Just Keep Flying
by santander16
Summary: MR4 haters unite! This is a story as if MR4 had never happened... what WILL happen...? R&R.
1. Reunion

"We brought donuts," I heard a voice say, and then Fang was stepping out from behind a tree, clad in black and standing out from the sunset behind him. The second I saw his face my mind went out. I hadn't realized how much I had missed him until he was back. Nothing in the world existed as I sprinted across the sand, spraying it up everywhere. I reached him and for a moment we stood together, awkwardly, and then his arms went around my body and held me close, and my arms wound around him, squeezing so hard I was sure he couldn't breathe. I was never going to move, ever. I was going to stay right here for the rest of eternity, with Fang's hands stroking my hair –

"Um, hello? This may come as a surprise, but I exist, too." I heard a voice behind me say. I broke away, my eyes locked with Fang's for a moment, before spinning in his arms to face the rest of my flock. My cheeks were flaming, I was sure. I felt hot but too happy to care.

"Iggy!" If my heart could have gotten even happier, it did. And then I was hugging him tight, and the Gasman, and everyone was exclaiming and telling stories and hugging. The Gasman hugged Angel, and it warmed my heart to see them together again.

"Fang loves Ma-ax! Max loves Fa-ang!" Nudge sung gleefully. I shushed her, but the smile on my lips wouldn't go away.

"Fang, are you Max's boyfriend?" Angel asked innocently, peering up at him. He hugged her close with one arm, but, I noticed, didn't answer the question.

"Come on, the donuts are getting cold," he said, pulling some out of the bag and passing them out. We devoured them all quickly.

Strolling across the beach, we watched the sun set against the white-capped waves. I was happy. I didn't need anything else but this: my flock all together, Gazzy and Angel arguing over whether dolphins were fish, Iggy fiddling with some wires, Nudge watching intently… Fang. Well, yeah, I guess food would be nice, and, you know, safety, a place to stay.

Not to ruin the happy moment or anything.

However nerdy this may sound, my heart was practically singing; I couldn't remember being this happy since… well, ever. We were whole again. The flock was together, and nothing was ever splitting us up again, no matter what.

"Yeah!" Angel said vehemently. I was startled. "No breaking up again, okay?"

"Yeah. We've got to stay together!" Gazzy agreed. After much pinky-swearing, brought on by Angel, we finally collapsed on the sand, staring up at the stars. We did our fist-stacking, our stack higher than it had been in a long time.

The kids fell asleep, one by one: Nudge and Angel curled up in little balls, Gazzy was sprawled out across the sand, mouth open, fists clenched slightly, and Iggy's arms were giving him a pillow. Finally it was just me and Fang. I turned to face him, not sure what to expect. His eyes bored into mine.

"I wish we could just stay here, you know? Forget about everything, and just stay right here on the beach, all of us, together," he whispered.

"Mhm…" I murmured. His arm slid around me, and we stared into the sky, our playground, our battlefield. I knew we could never do that. We'd keep fighting, forever.

That's what bird kids did.


	2. School The Normal Kind Part I

MAX POV

"Can we skip?" Iggy's voice called over the sound of my shower. I rolled my eyes. He'd asked me that every morning for the entire year we'd lived at my mom's house. I ignored him as I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, toweling myself off and slipping into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with large slits in the back (for my wings), my usual attire. I glanced into the mirror, flinging my wet hair behind my shoulders. It had grown longer in the time we'd been here. Ella wouldn't let me cut it, but I was seriously considering the kitchen scissors if she kept it up much longer.

Breakfast was the usual eight plates of bacon, eggs, toast, and whatever else Iggy decided to make. Today there was French toast sitting on my plate. "Nice, Ig," I said to the tall, skinny, strawberry blond boy flipping the last piece of French toast over a pan on the stove.

"Thanks. Last day of school, you know. Celebratory breakfast." I nodded, as thankful as he was that school was finally over for the year. At 15, Fang, lggy, and I were sophomores. Assuming things stayed as calm as they had been, maybe we'd even graduate someday, but who knew. Planning ahead wasn't exactly one of my major activities.

"Hey, Max, can you quiz me on my spelling words?" seven year old Angel asked.

"Can't you just read the teacher's mind and pass all your tests?"Gazzy grumbled as I reached across the table to take the sheet of paper. I glared at Angel's nine year old brother.

"_No_, she _cannot_, or at least she _will_ not, because I told her when we started going to school here that there was to be no cheating by mind reading," I reminded him sternly. "Right, Angel?" Her innocent expression did not impress me, but I rolled my eyes and began reading the words anyway.

Half an hour later we landed in the woods behind our school. Normally we walked or took the bus, but today we'd all been itching to fly. I shook my wings a little before folding them into my back. I'd changed into a shirt with slits in it, so now I had to wear a jacket, which was annoying because it was rather warm. Angel and Gazzy headed off together to the elementary school (grades two and four), laughing and chatting as they went, while Nudge began in the direction of the middle school (she was in seventh grade). Iggy, Fang, and I had a short, five minute walk to the high school.

"Oh, crap!" Iggy exclaimed suddenly as we approached the sidewalk lining the forest. "I forgot my lunch money!" I reached into my pocket to see if I had any extra, but I only had the five dollar bill I needed to buy my own lunch. Going without lunch was unthinkable if you were a bird-kid and needed three or four times as much food as the average human.

"Sorry, Ig, don't have any extra," I told him regretfully. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"Me either, man," Fang said, shrugging. "You can have mine if you want. I'll fly back and get more."

"Nah, I'll do it," Iggy said. He'd gotten more confident flying alone while we'd been here, and he often flew around after school alone just to see how long he could go before running into something. "See you guys," he called as he jogged back into the forest to take off. I laughed.

"God, he's going to be late on the last freaking day of school," I said. Fang grinned, surprising me and catching me a little off-guard. I cleared my throat and started along the sidewalk.

"So, how's everything in Max world?" Fang asked quietly, not meeting my eyes. Fang and I had always been best, best, best friends. Sometimes it felt like we were more than that, and sometimes I surprised myself by _wanting_ it to be more than that –

But wait a second. What was I thinking? Fang didn't feel that way about me. And I certainly didn't feel that way about him! Last-day-of-school happiness was making me think funny things. Realizing I hadn't answered his question, I shrugged.

"Pretty good," I replied. "It's weird, you know? Being so… normal." It wasn't something I would have admitted to the others. We were supposed to love living a normal life. It was supposed to feel _good_, to feel _right_. Why did it make me so restless? Was I such a freak that I couldn't enjoy normal life?

"Yeah," Fang's low voice agreed from beside me. "Same here. Sometimes I think school would be easier if all the kids were Erasers and the teachers were Flyboys. More straight forward, you know?" I glanced at him, wondering where that had come from. He was looking thoughtful.

"I wonder why they haven't found us yet," I mused, bringing up a subject we'd all been afraid to mention. He shook his head.

"They've had a whole year, Max. If they wanted to find us, they'd have found us by now."

"You mean you think they've… what, forgotten about us?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I doubt they've _forgotten_, but maybe they just don't care," he suggested. "Maybe they're afraid of you," he said suddenly, turning to grin at me. I scowled as he growled at me, baring his teeth. "Big, scary, Maximum Ride beat them up last time they had a party," he taunted me. I rolled my eyes and swatted his shoulder. He jumped nimbly to the side, grinning.

"Yeah, only 'cause little Fang was too busy to come help me," I reminded him. His grin was replaced instantly with a frown, his hands dropping to his sides and his eyes sliding to the ground.

"Yeah," he said quietly. I frowned at him.

"Oh, stop it, I was joking," I said, swatting him again. He ignored me, looking troubled. "Fang, come on, I was kidding. We were fine in Germany. We didn't need you – it would have been almost too easy with all six of us." This didn't cheer him up at all, and I abandoned my attempt as we reached the high school. "Well, if the teachers all start turning into Flyboys and the students get all wolfy, we'll know who to blame," I joked as we turned to go to our separate classes. His mouth twitched slightly as he headed silently down the hall.


	3. School The Normal Kind Part II

Have a good summer, students," the principal droned dryly. The end-of-the-year assembly was the latest form of student torture inflicted on us by the school board. "I do hope you continue your studies throughout your months off," he continued. Beside me, Iggy rolled his eyes. "I'll miss each and every one of you," the principal promised. Iggy made gagging motions. I giggled. "And I'll see your bright, cheery faces on the first day of school next year. Have a nice three months, and to the seniors, good luck in college and in the real world." The real world? What, was this the fake one? "School is now officially dismissed," the principal added nonchalantly. With a collective whoop, the entire student body leapt out of the uncomfortable wooden chairs and rampaged to the doors in the back of the room. I followed Iggy and Fang out of the building.

"Thank God that's over," I muttered. Iggy and Fang nodded in agreement. Just then, we heard a voice call out over the general roar of voices.

"Max! There you are!" My wonderful sister Ella appeared in front of me. "We're out of school! I'm so excited! The ninth grade assembly ran late, and I couldn't find you guys. So, what do you want to do? I'm thinking ice cream," she gushed. I grinned in agreement.

One hour and several ice cream cones later, we trooped into the house. "We're home, Mom!" I called out, savoring the name that still sounded a little funny in my mouth, even after all these years. There was no answer, so I made my way to the kitchen. She wasn't there, and she wasn't in her bedroom or the living room, either. "Hey, Ella, is Mom at work?" I called. Ella frowned and shook her head.

"She said she got the day off this morning… maybe she didn't after all," she said, shrugging. "Call her if you want." I was probably being very paranoid. She could be at any number of places. She was probably shopping or something. I was way too prone to overreacting. Years of being hunted on the run did that to you.

"Oh my God, Max!"

Or maybe I wasn't overreacting.


	4. Gone

I followed the sound of Gazzy's panicked voice to the back door… or what had once been the back door

I followed the sound of Gazzy's panicked voice to the back door… or what had once been the back door. Large gashes decorated both sides of the wooden door frame that now stood empty. I assumed the splinters of wood littering the now broken porch had once been the door. The screen door lay in tatters to the side, but the porch itself was in the worst shape. It looked as if someone had taken a giant spoon and just taken a large bite out of the porch.

I suddenly felt a little weak. My hand came to my mouth and I stumbled backwards, ramming into the wall and tipping over slightly. Hard, wiry arms came around me and pulled me upright, and suddenly I was looking into Fang's eyes.

"What is it?" he asked, his eyebrows pulling together. Wordlessly, I pointed at the remains of the door behind me. Fang blinked once. "Gazzy, go check your room," he said quickly. Confused, Gazzy hurried to do as he was told. I was still having a hard time breathing. Fang shook me slightly.

"It's fine," he assured me. "I'm sure it was nothing. Let's just go call your mom at work, okay?" I nodded absently, knowing she wouldn't answer when we called. Nevertheless, I dialed and held the phone to my ear.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring-ring.

"Hello, you've reached Martinez Veterinarian Hospital. Sorry we couldn't come to the phone –" I slammed the phone down into the cradle just as Gazzy ran in, pale and frightened.

"All my bombs are gone," he whispered.

Oh, God.

"What are we going to do about Ella?" I asked Fang as we shot down the hall to get the rest of the kids. "We can't leave her here." Then, to the rest of the flock, who was standing motionless in the kitchen, "You guys have exactly thirty seconds to get your backpacks." As if by magic, four bird kids disappeared up the stairs. Ella wasn't in the kitchen. "Crap, crap, crap…" I muttered, running my hands through my hair. I couldn't believe this had happened. Someone had broken in, stolen Gazzy's bombs, set one off right outside our house, blowing off the deck and the back door… my mom was MIA…

I heard a shriek, which meant Ella had finally figured out something was wrong. She sprinted into the kitchen, sliding on its slippery surface, panic all over her face.

"OhmyGodMax!" she screamed. The rest of the flock burst back into the kitchen, backpacks on their backs. Nudge threw me mine and Iggy tossed Fang his.

"Fang… do you think… you could…" I began, not sure what I was asking him was possible. He slipped his backpack onto his back and nodded quickly, understanding my meaning. "Okay guys, let's go," I said, pointing to the door. Ella's eyes widened as Fang strode over to her and promptly swept her up, bridal-style. He silently turned and launched himself out of what had once been the back door. The rest of the flock gaped for a moment before following. I took one last glance at the house that had been my home for the past year.

"Well, Maximum," I said conversationally to myself as I jumped into the sky and pumped my wings hard, "I guess normal doesn't like you too much, either."

The first place we went was my mom's vet hospital. I wasn't expecting to find anything there, but I obviously had to look. The olive-colored, L shaped building looked exactly the same.

From the front.

"Oh no oh no oh no oh no," I chanted as we flew over top. I spun in midair to face the back of my mom's office. Or, more appropriately, I turned to face what now appeared to be kindling. And lots of fine, reddish brown dust that I assumed had once been bricks.

"Max…" Ella whispered from Fang's arms. Fang's eyes were scanning the skies around us, something I really should have been doing. Fang knew I was a little too close to this one. The fact that he was doing what I should have been doing should have bothered me, but all I could think of right now was that I had done this to my mom. If I hadn't lived with her, if I hadn't loved her, none of this would have happened. They would have gone after us instead of her.

"It's all right, Ella," I comforted her automatically, as if she was Gazzy with a scrape on his knee or Angel not being able to sleep at night. "We'll find her, it's all right." Fang's eyes finally completed his sweep and he locked eyes with me. He raised an eyebrow. _Where now?_ the look said. I sighed and his reaction was immediate.

"The school," he mouthed. I nodded, feeling more helpless than I ever had. I had no idea if my mom would be there. But we had to try. We had no leads, no idea where she could be. Normally in our world, when something bad happened, you just assumed the worst had happened – capture by whitecoats.

"Let's go, guys," I said tiredly to the rest of my flock. They had been hovering nearby. Angel had tears in her eyes as she looked mournfully up at me.

_I was having so much fun being normal_ Angel thought wistfully. I nodded as we began flying through the wind.

_Me too, sweetie, _I thought back, and I wasn't sure which bothered me more: the fact that I was lying to Angel or the fact that what I had just said was a lie.

So carrying a hundred and fifteen pound girl for hours at a time is difficult, even if you're a superstrong freak bird kid. Fang and I switched off carrying her, but soon I was panting and falling behind the rest of them. I looked over Ella's sleeping body at the ground below us, as if some safe spot to put her would suddenly appear. None did.

"I can carry her," Iggy offered. I shook my head, but he frowned. "Let me rephrase that. I'm going to carry her for a while," Iggy said. I sighed, resigned and too tired and upset to argue, passing her carefully over to Iggy. He wrapped his arms around her slowly and sped up to fly at the front of our little group.

The way Iggy looked at her… it reminded me of the way I caught Fang looking at me sometimes, when we were just sitting together, talking.

Which meant what?

"Max," came Fang's soft voice. I was so startled I dropped a few feet. Red in the face, I flapped back up to his amused face, scowling.

"Yeah," I replied.

"I…"

What he was about to say, I will never know, because just then Angel screamed. Simultaneously, Fang shook violently and then dropped out of the air beside me, one hand pressed against his shoulder, his eyes wide with fear.


	5. Occupational Hazard

"Nudge

"Nudge!" I called out, ready to go get Fang, but quite suddenly I couldn't breathe. It was as if someone had punched me in the stomach, hard. My regular wing movements faltered and I tilted dangerously to the left in the air. Another blow to my stomach made me gag, and I rolled away from the Flock, gasping and choking as Gazzy suddenly yelped and spun, arms flailing in front of him, his knee looking funny and bent the wrong way.

Something was very wrong.

Iggy took one look at what was going on and shot upwards, shielding Ella with his long, white arms. What was he doing? Then it hit me – Iggy was used to this. It was normal for him to hear his friends cry out in pain and not be able to see why. He knew exactly what it felt like to not know where attacks were coming from or who the attacker was. Which meant –

"Guys! They're invisible! We can't see them!" I called out, surging back to my flock. Below me, Fang was flying raggedly back up to us. Suddenly something hit him from the side and he flailed through the air a few feet, spinning in an attempt to see his attacker.

"Get out of here!" came Gazzy's voice. Something small and black flew through the air above us as six kids shot sideways, away from the spinning thing.

BOOM.

"Eeeeeeeew!" Nudge screamed, wiping her face. "Invisible guts! Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!"

Fang cursed loudly. "What _was_ that?" he asked, reaching the rest of us.

"They're invisible," I replied in horror, staring at the empty space in front of us.

"Are they still here?" Gazzy asked, fingering his pockets. Angel shook her head.

"No. I can't hear their thoughts. I heard them before, but I didn't believe it, because I couldn't _see_ anyone. They're a lot like the flying Erasers, I think, but invisible," Angel said. Iggy floated down to us, Ella now awake in his arms, a terrified expression on her face.

"Max, why are invisible… erasers… attacking us?" she asked carefully. I shrugged, pointing myself back in the direction we had been heading.

"Occupational hazard when you're two percent avian," I replied, squaring my shoulders and beginning to fly forward.

**Hey… please review! It's the little grey/purple arrow below this… I promise it doesn't bite… I'd just like to know I'm writing this for someone besides myself! ******


	6. Finally Won

We spent the night in a clearing in the woods

We spent the night in a clearing in the woods. I swore I wasn't going to stop, but when Nudge actually fell asleep while flying I realized I wasn't the only one I had to worry about. Silently I swept down into the woods, followed closely by the exhausted and relieved flock.

"I'll take first watch," Fang offered. I shook my head, leaning against a tree and glancing around at my flock, all of whom were already asleep. "Max, you're falling asleep. Please let me take first watch," he insisted. I ignored him, counting the trees surrounding our little clearing. "Fine. We'll both take first watch then," he muttered, sitting down beside me and leaning against the same tree.

"How can we fight things we can't even see?" I whispered to Fang, surprising myself by speaking. He shook his head slowly.

"I don't know, Max. We'll just have to rely on Angel to tell us they're coming and get the heck out of there."

"Run away, you mean?" I asked, incredulous.

"Got a better idea?" He raised an eyebrow and I sighed, defeated. We sat in silence for a long while.

"I hate this," I said after maybe ten minutes. "She's my _mom_, Fang. I did this to her. If I hadn't lived with her, they wouldn't have taken me. They're just trying to get to me. They know I'll come after her."

"So it's a trap."

"But one we have to follow anyway," I said, discouraged. Fang looked down at me, frowning.

"Hey…" he said slowly. "It's not your fault. Dr. Martinez was involved with the school before we came to her house. They might have taken her anyway." I knew he was partially right, but I couldn't help but blame myself anyway. Years and years of taking responsibility for everything that went wrong made me that way, I guess.

Sighing, I closed my eyes. Maybe I could let Fang take first watch after all. I heard him chuckle slightly as I let my head rest on my shoulder, but very soon I was asleep.

A very large CRACK woke me up. My first, delirious thought was, "That's not what my alarm clock sounds like!" My second thought was, "Oh my God… that sounded way too much like a bone."

A bloodcurdling shriek convinced me of my second thought. Arching my back, I flew off the ground and into the fight in a split second.

For the first time, I knew how Iggy felt in a fight.

Punches were coming from all around me, knocking into my face and stomach and back. I felt one eye swell up as a hairy fist came in contact with my face. I swung wildly at the air, feeling a little dumb, but I cheered up considerably as an audible 'oof' came from the spot I had just hit.

That was pretty much the last cheery thought I thought.

It was bad. _Very _bad.

Angel was sobbing, trying to concentrate on the space in front of her to control their minds and failing. "STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO STOP NOW! YOU'RE GOING TO GO AWAY!" she was screaming as her face whipped from side to side from the blows. Gazzy had picked up a branch from the ground and was spinning in circles trying to smack as many as possible. Nudge and Fang were back to back, trying to minimize the space they could sneak up on them, lashing out every few seconds.

Iggy was actually holding up the best of all of us. His nose was bleeding, but other than that his sensitive hearing was helping him do pretty well.

Until the helicopter came.

I heard the chop-chop-chop above the trees and my heart just about gave out.

Although that might have had something to do with the punch that landed on the side of my head, knocking me to the ground. I lurched to my feet, but another blow sent me down again. Screaming through the barrage of blows that suddenly came my way, I saw Angel dangling by a foot from the air.

They were carrying her up to the helicopter.

I lunged across the clearing, snapping my wings out, reaching for her, but something yanked hard on my wing. Tumbling out of the air, I smacked into Gazzy, who was writhing in pain, grasping a mangled left arm with a bloody right one. Behind Gazzy was Nudge, also being dragged into the air. I reached out to grab her but missed as I crashed into a tree. Blackness was beginning to seep over the unreal scene. As what felt like a foot slam into my face, I looked up, searching for the flock. Searching for the fight left in them.

Searching for some little bit of hope.

But all I could think of was, "Oh, my God. They've finally won."


	7. The First Time in Six Years

"Max, Max, come on, open your eyes, Max, come on…"

"Max, Max, come on, open your eyes, Max, come on…"

I groaned, and whoever was talking to me gasped and reached out to stroke my face. It felt like a million needles scraping across my cheek. I gasped in pain and struggled to open my eyes. They felt like they were glued to my cheeks.

"Max!" It was Fang. "You're gonna be okay, Max, you're gonna be fine…" his voice trailed off and I wondered why he was telling me this. Of course I was going to be fine. I was always fine. That's the way it was.

I tried to sit up, but somehow my body wouldn't listen to me. It was like my brain wasn't connected to me anymore. "Fang," I tried to say, tried to tell him something was wrong, but nothing would come out of my mouth.

"Max, I think – I'm gonna do something, but it might hurt, okay? Just… just don't freak out," he said, his voice sounding far away. I tried to nod, tried to say okay, but nothing would work.

Until he popped something in my leg and I roared in pain. Then my vocal chords seemed to work okay.

FANG POV

I saw Max get practically thrown out of the sky. I lunged toward her but didn't make it in time. Crashing into the ground, her head bouncing off a rock, I watched the light go out of her eyes.

That's precisely when I went pretty much insane. Roaring with fury, I grabbed a stick in one hand and swung it hard at where the last punch had come from. I guess there was still someone there, because the stick connected and there was a loud grunt. I moved on, lashing out in all directions until I reached the others side of the clearing. Spinning, I launched into the air and flapped over to the helicopter, where I saw Ella's terrified face peering out of a window. I wrenched open the door.

Only to find a gun pointed at my face. I dropped backwards out of the sky, trying the other side of the helicopter. I was the only one in the air now. Max was in a heap on the forest floor and the rest of my flock was in the helicopter.

This wasn't happening.

Oh, God, this wasn't happening. The helicopter made a loud purring noise and shot forward. Grasping the runner attached to the bottom, I flew along with it for about half a second before the air wrenched me off. I tumbled through the air and barely righted myself before landing. I looked up into the sky, calculating the possibilities of catching up to the helicopter.

Zero. I sprinted back to Max. Reaching the clearing, my eyes searching the dark woods and finding her, I felt a cold hand snake into my heart.

She looked dead. Both legs were twisted in very wrong ways. Both eyes were swollen shut, and her arms and legs were covered in black, blue, and blood. Her mouth was open, and I was pretty sure all her teeth were _not_ in her mouth.

"Max!" I exclaimed, trying to hide the panic in my heart. "You're gonna be okay, Max, you're gonna be fine…" I knelt at her side, reviewing her injuries, reminding myself to breathe. _Not Max, not Max, no, not Max…_

"Max, I think – I'm gonna do something, but it might hurt, okay? Just… just don't freak out," I said quietly, reaching for her left leg. I could actually see the bone sticking out of it. Trying very hard not to puke (I was pretty sure that wouldn't be too good for her right now), I gingerly snapped it back into her leg. She bellowed in pain, and it was almost like it was hurting me, too. _Breathe in, breathe out_.

Okay… stop the bleeding or try to set the bones? I took one look at her pale face. "Right, stop the bleeding," I muttered to myself, ripping my shirt off and tearing it into pieces.

It was like trying to stop Niagara falls with a paper towel. My hands were soaked instantly and I tossed the strip of my shirt away, reaching for the next. Her hand fluttered to mine and her eyes opened weakly.

"Fang, don't," she whispered. My eyes opened wide with surprise, and then anger.

"What do you want me to do then, Max? Huh? I've got nothing to stop the bleeding with. You're gonna bleed out in about a minute." She nodded.

"I know," she whispered. "Go get the rest of the flock and save them. Find my mom," she continued. My eyes opened wide.

"Max! What… what are you talking about? You're going to be fine! I just have to stop this bleeding –" I got another two strips and folded them against her side, trying in vain to staunch the blood that was seeping onto the forest floor. She hissed in pain and tried to curl away from me.

"Fang…" she pleaded, but I ignored her, more angry than I had ever been in my entire life, which was saying something. Suddenly an idea hit me.

"Jeb," I breathed. Her eyes flared and I shook my head. "No, he's not here… but we're going to him. Ari was dead, right? He was _dead_, and Jeb brought him back to life! I'm gonna take you to Jeb, Max. This is going to be okay." Gingerly, carefully, I slid her into my arms. She winced and cried out, but then went still. She was out again.

Tears sprung to my eyes and I blinked through them angrily. I was crying? Me? Fang the emotionless? Sure, I knew that was just the front I put up to protect myself, but… I couldn't remember the last time I had cried. Wait… yes, yes I could. It was when we thought Jeb had died.

Six years ago.

I leapt into the air, settling into my sense of direction and sensing that the right direction was a little to the left. I adjusted and began soaring. I reached some hawks after a few minutes and flew with them, letting my bird instincts take over and not thinking, because if I started thinking I knew I would break down, and I knew I couldn't break down now because I wouldn't be able to fly anymore.

And I had to fly, because I had to get to Jeb. Because I had to get Max to Jeb. Because I had to save Max.

Because I would _not_ lose Max.

**Look… I gave you a longer chapter than usual!! (I think I deserve a review as a reward!! :-P) **


	8. Waking up and Letting Go

MAX POV

MAX POV

"Fang," I croaked upon waking up. I felt like… like I had been trampled by a herd of elephants. With really cold feet. "Cold," I managed to get out. He glanced down at me, his eyes dark and a little… red? Was _Fang_ crying? How strange. Something terrible must have happened.

For that matter, what was I doing in Fang's arms? Was he actually carrying me and flying? What was _wrong_ with me? Where had my brain been when I let him do that?

And why could I not move my legs? For that matter, did I even have legs anymore? Did I have arms?

Oh yes, arms were those things attached to the top of me that felt like they were on fire. In fact, I was pretty sure they were on fire. I felt the need to tell Fang that. I didn't want him to catch on fire, too. One of us was probably enough.

But if I told Fang I was on fire, he would probably drop me, I reasoned, and then I would die, because suddenly Fang's strong arms felt like the only thing keeping me from falling apart into a million pieces.

"I know," he whispered. "It's all the blood you've lost. It's gonna be okay." Why did he keep saying that? "Max, can you hear me?" he asked suddenly. I tried to nod but barely pulled off a twitch of my head. What was wrong with me? "Can you remember anything? What happened?" he asked. What happened? Now that was a good question. A very good question. "Do you remember being attacked by the invisible Erasers? The helicopter? Anything?" His voice broke and for some reason this made me want to cry.

A flood of images washed over my head then, and I nodded, the tears welling in my swollen eyes. I had hoped it was just some weird dream, some illusion in the back of my mind. But…

"Yes," I whispered. A weight settled on my chest as I realized what that meant. "Are they… gone?" He nodded against the wind that was blowing his hair around his head.

"We'll find them. As soon as we get you fixed up."

"NO… Fang, you have to get the Flock," I breathed, my vocal chords now deciding not to work anymore. He turned to glare at me just as my breath gave out and I slumped against his chest. What was grabbing at my heart? Something was making my lungs burn… air… no, there _wasn't_ any air, I thought hazily.

"Max? Max! _Max!_" Fang's voice tried to pull me out of my haze.

No, I thought to him, wishing I could speak. No, Fang, don't try any more. Don't… just let me go… just… let… me…

FANG POV

Screaming against the wind, I landed in a cave below us. I set Max's broken body down on the least rocky spot of the cave and began pounding frantically on her chest. I felt her heart beat beneath my hands and I took them away, reaching for my backpack, which I had miraculously remembered to bring with me. My jacket was inside, and I folded it up quickly with shaking hands and pressed it against her leg, holding it there with one hand and grabbing another jacket to press against her side with the other.

God, there was so much blood. It was already pooling under her in the cave.

Her eyes flickered open again and sought me. She was barely focusing on me at all; her eyes were all fuzzy under the swollen lids.

"Fang…"

"Yeah, Max," I breathed.

"You've got to leave now," she said, her voice a little stronger. "You've got to find the rest of the flock. They're probably at the school by now. You've got to go…" she closed her eyes again.

"Max, no. I'm not leaving you," I said quietly. "I promised you a long time ago I was never going to leave you, and I meant it. I'm not leaving." I began pressing on her side again.

"Fang," she said clearly. I didn't pause. "Fang! Listen. You've got to get the flock…" She paused and I glanced up at her face. Tears were making clean tracks through the blood on her cheeks.

"We're gonna get through this, Max," I whispered, brushing the tears away. "We always have. Every time."

"Not this time," she said, and a note of assurance rang through her voice as if she knew exactly what she was talking about. She took another shuddering breath and then her chest was still.

"NO!" I screamed, trying to remember what little CPR and stuff Jeb had taught us. I breathed into her mouth and her chest rose, but it was artificial and seemed wrong. Somewhere in the corner of my mind, it registered that my lips were against hers. How many times had I wished this? But not like this… oh, God, not like this… I breathed in again and again, but each time I paused, so did the movement of her chest. "NO!" My voice bounced off the surrounding mountains and came back in a haunting tone. No… no… no…

I slammed my fist against the cave wall, gasping in pain as it broke the skin. A movement caused me to turn to Max –

"Oh, thank God…" She was breathing again. "Max! You have to wake up now, Max, you have to wake up now, come on…"


	9. The Hardest Thing

Please… after you read this… stick with me

**Please… after you read this… stick with me!! I promise it isn't all dreary and gloomy… I swear… this is the last chapter I have pre-written, so the posts will be slower now. But if you keep reading as I post I promise it won't stay depressing!! (I do much better with happy endings, I don't know about you.)**

MAX POV

"Fang," I whispered. His head snapped up to look at me. His eyes were dead. There was no life there. I imagined that was a bit like what I looked like. I took a deep breath. "Fang, go," I insisted.

"No."

"Fang… it's my dying wish. Isn't there some rule that you have to listen to me?" I tried to smile, but a knife-like feeling jutted through my cheek. He turned away, not amused.

"Max, you're not going to die," he said evenly. "Just… breathe, okay? Breathe, and live…"

"Fang, listen. You're going to have to be the leader now," I said, willing myself not to cry. "You can do it, I know you can."

"Shut UP, Max!" he yelled, his voice vibrating in my aching head. "Just SHUT UP!"

Ignoring him, I continued. "Angel has bad dreams sometimes. You have to sing to her." He threw his hands onto my side, pressing something hard into one of the many gaping wounds. I hissed in a breath and then continued. "Don't let Gazzy and Iggy blow too much stuff up, okay? Don't let the others murder Nudge, don't let Angel control too many minds… don't forget there's always a plan…"

A tear rolled down Fang's face. He looked so broken. I had never seen him like this. Like he was the one dying in his arms.

"Fang, you can't give up," I whispered. "You have to always keep going, always." A ragged breath ripped through my lungs, giving no satisfaction to the dull ache there. I felt the haze begin to wash over me again. Struggling against it was the hardest thing I had ever done. I concentrated on Fang's face, willing myself to keep talking, to not die.

Not yet.

Almost, I promised my burning lungs and aching heart. Almost time. Just hold on for another minute…

"Fang…" His eyes slowly moved from his hands, which were pressing uselessly against my broken leg now, to my face. "Fang, you can do this." His eyes closed and he slumped against the wall, tears running down his cheeks.

"Max, I… I'm scared."

"Me, too." I lay there for a few minutes, catching my breath from those two words. I had faced death so many times before… but never before had I believed I was going to die.

This time, I knew.

I wondered vaguely what would happen to me. Was there a heaven for bird kids? Was there even a heaven at all? I wasn't religious, but then again, didn't everyone want to believe in a God when it came down to death?

I didn't want to die.

That was the truth of the matter.

I didn't want to die.

"Fang… what'll happen to me?" I breathed, not sure he could make out the words. There was no breath left in my lungs. There would be no more speaking. For a minute I was sure he hadn't heard me.

"I don't know," he whispered after a long moment. "Maybe… maybe they'll mix you up with the angels because of your wings. Angels are supposed to be the most beautiful creatures ever, you know." I had no idea what he meant by this. I wasn't even quite sure he was speaking English any more. Or maybe it was me that didn't speak English. The haze became thicker around me and the blackness more definite. My body didn't ache anymore. There was no pain. There was just…

But wait… there was something I had to do before I left… before I was gone…

I struggled to suck in the smallest bit of air, just enough for a few words… I pulled the haze away as if it was a cloth, as if I could actually save myself… just for a second…

"Fang…" I gasped. His eyes snapped open to look at me. "Fang… I never said…" I was slipping under again. Just three more words, I urged myself. After all you've done, you can muster up three more words… "I…" But I was going under again. I wasn't sure what I had meant to say, why it suddenly mattered so much. Oh, yes, that was it… was it really worth all this effort? Yes, yes, something inside of me shouted. Yes, you have to say it… "Love you," I breathed with the last air in my lungs.

And with that, Maximum Ride let go.


	10. After

FANG POV

Four hours later, I realized I was going to have to stop. I hadn't slept for over twenty four hours, and I had been carrying Max's body -- no, I had been carrying _Max_ -- for almost all of that time. I was exhausted, and, although I didn't want to admit it to myself, I was desperately in need of a little food and a few hours sleep. If I passed out in the air, I was going to drop Max. That wouldn't be so good.

I landed in the forest and immediately there was a problem. What was I going to do with Max? If I left her in the woods, some animal might come and… I didn't want to think about that. But I obviously couldn't carry her with me to get food. So I would have to catch something.

Catching food is something I'm not proud of. None of us like killing anything. But it was the squirrel or Max, and the decision was obvious.

Sorry, squirrel.

I put Max down next to the fire so she'd stay warm as I worked on her. I ripped up the rest of the two jackets from my backpack and also ripped up the t-shirt I was wearing under my shirt and wrapped them around her stomach to protect the gashes on her sides, and I wrapped up the worst parts on her arms and legs, too. I got water from the river and washed off the worst of the blood on her and even splinted a few of her broken fingers. There wasn't much else I could do for her, so I left it at that. Stretching out on the other side of the fire, I was suddenly a little nervous about going to sleep. You always had someone on watch, always.

But it was just me now.

I missed the Flock more than ever. Were they all right? I felt a stab of guilt realizing that I was slowing down my progress to save them by bringing Max along. But the choice was another obvious one. I wasn't leaving Max. I was doing the best I could, and that was that. No way around it.

I sighed and closed my eyes, promising myself I would wake up with the sun in about two hours. That's all the sleep I needed. No, I needed more, but that was all the sleep I could afford right now.

"G'night, Max," I whispered into the silent forest. The wind snatched up my words and carried them off, maybe as far as wherever Max was right now.

Maybe just across the fire to the ears that didn't hear a thing I was saying.

"Miss you," I continued. I turned on my side and closed my eyes, reminding myself to wake up in two hours. Maybe an hour and a half.


	11. Downloaded

MAX POV

Well, my first thought was, "Did I really just say that to Fang? That's a little awkward."

My second thought was, "Crap, I really _did_ just die, didn't I?"

And my third thought was, "Well then where am I and why am I still capable of thinking?"

I opened my eyes to look around and – WOAH.

Possibly the largest WOAH moment of my life.

I didn't have eyes. That would be because I didn't have a head to put them on. And _that_ would be because I didn't have a body to put the head on.

I was a floating thought. A bodiless consciousness. A collection of memories and feelings and old, stale thoughts stored in… what? Where was I? Could you _be_ anywhere if you _weren't_ anything?

Okay, so total freak-out moment continuing…

_**Max?**_ THE VOICE! I had never been so happy to hear the voice. For that matter, I'd never been happy to hear the voice at all. So I could hear Jeb. What did that mean? I couldn't still be alive. Not after what happened to me. I knew that; the one solid fact in my mind right then was that I hadn't survived. I'd died in Fang's arms in that cave.

_Jeb?_ I thought tentatively. _Jeb… where _am_ I? _What_ am I?_

_**Max, Max, Max, I have never been so happy to hear your thoughts **_Jeb replied, not really answering my question.

_Jeb, seriously. Explain. Now._

_**Max, you're not somewhere you really want to be right now**_ Jeb told me cautiously. I growled. Wait. I didn't growl. But I thought about growling.

_Let me guess. The School?_

_**Yes. I'm sorry, Max.**_

_But… I died, didn't I?_ I asked, already knowing the answer.

_**Yes. Again, a very regretful outcome. **_

_Regretful outcome?_ I thought incredulously. _Yeah, no kidding. So… what the heck's happening? Because this isn't exactly how I pictured the afterlife. And I'm totally not spending the rest of eternity floating around in nothingness thinking to you._

_**I'm going to explain this the best way I possibly can, Max, but it's going to be a little difficult to process, **_Jeb began.

_Oh, just get on with it!_

_**You are dead. But you're consciousness isn't. The School did many experiments on you and your flock when you were first… created. One of these was storing your brains. We connected computer chips and wires to your brains and to monitors and downloaded what we found in your brains. It took some of the largest computer files ever known to man. There's a lot to your brain, Max. **_

_Blah, blah, I already _know_ I was connected to computers. What's that got to do with me now?_

_**Patience, Max, I'm getting there. Finally we decided to test our hypotheses. You see, by downloading you into a computer, we were fairly certain that we had your consciousness stored there. Your personality was stored in our computers, along with all your memories, traits, thoughts… everything you ever saw, heard, felt… it was all there. **_

_So my body's been living in the world, but my mind's been living in a computer?_ I asked, confused and a little overwhelmed.

__

_**In a way. Your mind has certainly been living your life with your body. It's just been copied and downloaded every nanosecond or so into our computer files.**_

_So then why didn't you know where I was every single second? Why couldn't you track me that way? How come you didn't know all my weaknesses and everything? _

_**The experiment was deemed a failure. Your brain was so complex that only another consciousness similar in every way to yours could possibly access it. There was no way we could ever monitor your every thought and action. **_

_But it _did_ work! I'm here! _I insisted.

_**We had no way of knowing that, Max. We couldn't access your files. Only you can do that. Only you could access what you're accessing this very moment. **_

I took a short break from twenty questions to think over what I had just learned. So my body was dead, but my consciousness was living on inside a computer file. I didn't actually exist… but I was still able to think and remember because of some experiment gone wrong kept in a back room somewhere in The School.

_But what now?_ I finally thought, quietly, afraid. Yes, the great Maximum Ride was afraid.

_**Now you think and remember and feel inside your file for the rest of eternity**_ came the haunting Voice, and if I had possessed a mouth, a scream would have escaped my mouth.


	12. Rock, Paper, Scissors

**A/N: I have another authors note at the bottom, but, at the risk of looking dumb, I have a question. When I look at the 'documents' section of my account, one of the sections on the table is "life" and it says for some of my documents (I have one document for each chapter) and that there is only like 48 days or whatever. Will those chapters disappear after 48 days?? Please respond… otherwise this story might disappear!! Ahhh!! **

ANGEL POV

"Angel…" Gazzy tried for the zillionth time to cheer me up. But I would not be consoled. I heard the thoughts of the workers bumbling about outside of our cell.

_The girl… the leader… the oldest female… the one who has given herself the title Maximum… attacked… gone… the Director will be pleased… maybe the dark one, too… the oldest male… missing… possibly dead… no bodies found... _It was all the scientists could think about as they made their way about their business. No project had ever been so important or successful at The School as us, the flying bird kids.

And, apparently, no project had ever gone so very wrong.

"Let's play rock, paper, scissors!" Gazzy suggested, holding his closed fist out with a hesitant smile. I sighed and picked his move out of his head.

"You're going to play rock. I won," I muttered, turning to face the stained cement wall.

Stained with long red streaks, just the right space apart to have come from fingers.

Fingers attached to "experiments" gone insane, attempting to claw their way through three-feet-thick solid concrete. From behind me, I heard Nudge sigh. I turned away from the wall, willing myself to smile.

"Let's play," I suggested to Gazzy. "I promise I won't listen." He eyed me skeptically, but was obviously too pleased I had decided to do _something_ that he didn't seem to mind if I cheated.

I won three times in a row and Gazzy gave up, turning to talk to Iggy. Iggy was doing the worst out of all of us, even me. He hadn't said one word since we had arrived. He'd just stared at the cement door of our room in silence, twisting his fingers up in his fits and tugging at his strawberry blond hair.

The opposite of Iggy was Ella. She might have even beaten the Nudge record for most questions asked since we'd arrived. "What is this place?" "Why do they want us here?" "These are the people my mom used to work for, right?" "Why do they want _me_?" "What are they going to do with us now?" The questions flowed around us, giving us something to do, even though we didn't really have answers. Nudge and Gazzy muttered vague responses to her, trying in vain to comfort her without having any real information. All we could tell her was that we'd arrived at the last place on Earth she ever wanted to be.

"Angel?" Ella called from across our cell. It wasn't even a barred cell. All four walls were cement. We couldn't see out at all.

"Yeah," I whispered, turning to face her and pulling my arms around my knees, huddling in a ball. The tall girl walked over to me and sat down beside me.

"Why aren't they here yet?" I shrugged. I didn't have to ask who she meant, and not just because I could read her mind. It was on all of our minds, although none of us had voiced the question yet. Where were Max and Fang? Surely they were coming to get us out. But normally they worked so quickly together, so efficiently, perhaps the best of all of us.

So where were they?

A/N: Thanks so much for everyone who has reviewed!! Here are some responses:

silentwings3495: Thanks! And as for your question… keep reading and you might find out! (Sorry, I know that's a crappy response, but I can't give everything away! I'd just stay optimistic if I were you.)

Julie AV: Thanks… and yeah, you're right! And about your review about Fang and his sleeping habits… maybe, maybe not. Now that you said that, maybe it won't happen at all.

bLackAngel72: Thanks so much! It really makes me happy that I'm writing these for someone other than myself… I hope you like the rest of the chapters as much as the first.

TheEverLoyalPoptart: THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!

So now, everyone, just keep reading! I'm trying to keep writing/posting as much as possible, but I do have two sports, a job, and school… so I'm trying my best. I hope you like what I do, and if you have any suggestions, I'm totally open to them!


	13. Circular Thinking in a Square Cell

IGGY POV

It seemed like a lifetime ago I'd been sitting in the auditorium with Fang and Max, joking around and barely listening to our principal ramble on and on about the end of school. At the time it'd seemed like torture, but now I would have given anything to have been sitting in those uncomfortable seats with the ripped upholstery and the wooden armrests that squeaked if you put any weight on them, poking Max and kicking Fang, trying not to laugh loud enough to be heard by the patrolling teachers lurking in the shadows.

I tugged on the brace some whitecoat had put on my ankle. Both ankles had braces, and my left shoulder and right wrist had large bandages taped on. My lip felt swollen. I knew I wasn't in the greatest shape, but it was annoying to have them take care of me like this. I'd woken up to someone taping the last of my bandages and almost bit their fingers off. It was like, okay, attack me if you will, but then don't turn around fix me up and everything. Make up your mind.

Someone got up, interrupting my thinking, and moved across the cell – Ella (her footsteps were clunkier than the graceful ones of the rest of the flock). I felt a strange urge to put my arms around her and hold her tight, to protect her from this nightmare into which she'd been so forcefully dragged.

But I stayed put, because that would be weird, right? Sure, we'd become friends. I mean, I'd lived with the girl for a whole year, and we stayed up late talking and stuff. I helped her with her science homework practically every night. But… but that didn't mean anything. We were friends.

She was Max's _sister_.

Anyway, I didn't have the energy to stand, let alone move my body across the entire cell. The air circulating through The School had a recycled taste that did nothing to satiate the aching for oxygen my lungs felt. I could smell machines and sweat and chimpanzees and blood and fear in the air. It made me want to curl up into a ball and sob my guts out.

But I was the oldest. I couldn't do that. I had to be strong, the strongest. Max and Fang weren't here, but that didn't mean we had no hope. It was _good_ that they weren't here. If they weren't with us, they could break us out, save us.

I mentally slapped myself in the face. I had to be the leader until Max returned. I had to be okay, had to be strong, had to be hopeful, for Ella. For Ella and the Gasman and Angel and Nudge.

For myself.

GAZZY POV

This sucked. When would Max and Fang show up and bust us out? I was sick of the way the air smelled. I was sick of the cold, rough cement floor. I was sick of the way Angel looked all pale and sad and scared, like she always did when she was in The School. I was sick of the way Iggy was so mad and upset he wouldn't even talk. I was sick of the vulnerability of being in a cell you couldn't see out of without even a single bomb. I was sick of the bandages the whitecoats had put all over me (much tighter than Max ever wrapped them), even if they did make my arms and legs hurt a little less.

Time to come get, us, Max.

Any time now.

Any minute.

Any second.

NUDGE POV

I hadn't said a word in over ten minutes. I knew because I'd counted the seconds. That might sound weird, but try staying in a tiny cement cell with four other kids who won't talk, without any food or water or _any_thing to do, waiting to be taken away for experiments or death or something.

Not fun.

If the lack of food, water, and clean air didn't kill me, if the scientists didn't screw up my brain with their latest experiment, if some Invisiraser didn't come in and shred us… I was going to die of boredom.

Six hundred and one…

Six hundred and two…

Six hundred and three…


	14. Whispers of Rage

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! Once I have fifteen reviews, I will post again. Four reviews… you guys can do it!**

**I hope you like this chapter… and don't despair about Max too much. All will be well. **

FANG POV

By some miracle, I actually _did_ wake up with the sun. No clichéd, annoyed moments of, "Crap, I overslept, I hate myself." Feeling a thousand times better than when I'd fallen asleep on the wet leaves of the forest two hours later, I scuffed the coals enough to get a little heat – just enough to warm my hands a little. Three minutes later I'd eaten and was off, Max in my arms, facing the ground away from which we were currently soaring as fast as I could manage with her in my arms.

Max was facing down because I couldn't look at her face. I couldn't bring myself to gaze into the lifeless eyes of the corpse I was carrying. I'd caught a glimpse while carrying her earlier, and the image would haunt me for the rest of my life.

Max's eyes had been the one thing she'd never mastered controlling. She could control her emotions so well – she could be upset or infuriated or whatever, and no one would know because that's rule number one of being the leader of a flock of bird kids fighting for their lives: don't show your weaknesses. Mad? Sad? Too bad. No one can know.

Except me.

Because I'd spent my entire life looking into those eyes.

When she was worried or distracted, they would be the slightest bit unfocused. I could tell in school when she was thinking about flying, because her eyes would soar as if riding the wind. When she was caring for Gazzy or Angel, they'd melt before my eyes. Or when she'd move something over to help Iggy out inconspicuously – there'd be this slight crease on either side of her eyes, like it made her sad. When she looked at Nudge, she was often rolling her eyes.

Her mom or Ella, that was easy – this look of reverence and awe, like she could never really believe they were really there.

Me… when she looked at me, sometimes… sometimes they would light up… like a light bulb, like someone flipped a switch…

I needed to stop thinking this way or I wasn't going to be able to see where I was going.

Jeb. I concentrated on his face, letting the fury, the rage, wash over me and consume all other feelings. Rage was good. Rage didn't make your heart feel like it was being clawed out slowly or your throat burn like there was a fire burning inside it. Rage was safe. We were old friends.

Truthfully, my rage wasn't quite as deserved as we'd always thought it to be. Jeb had saved us all many times, I knew that now. He'd helped Max out in Germany. Dr. Martinez had trusted him.

But then again, Dr. Martinez wasn't exactly _doing well_, either.

I had to trust Jeb now, though, like it or not, because he was my one hope. He was the only reason I was still capable of functioning. As long as I was moving toward Jeb, I was moving toward a solution. I could fix this because he could fix it. So there was no need to feel so wretched.

No reason to feel like _I_ was the dead one.

No reason to feel like there _wasn't_ a reason anymore, to anything.

"You're going to have to be the leader now… You can do it, I know you can..." her whisper echoed in my head. Could I do it? Sure, we were the same age, but Max had always been the natural leader. I was good at following, good at noticing things and following directions and getting my butt out of bad situations.

Could I be the leader?

Could I tell the rest of the flock what to do? Did I possibly have it in me to comfort them, to make them understand that we had to keep fighting? Could I keep them safe?

No, a voice inside me insisted. Of course not. There was no way I could ever do what Max did. That was what made her Max.

That was what I loved most about her.

"It doesn't matter anyway," I breathed against the wind, the sound of my whisper not even reaching my own ears. "I won't have to find out. Max's gonna be fine. I'll never have to be the leader, never."

But the shield of rage around my brain was gone, so I was able to feel with clarity the uncertainty ripping through my being, hurting worse than any injury, wrenching my heart and blinding my eyes.


	15. Yesterday All Over Again

**A/N: You guys better be happy I can't stay away from this story, because I didn't get to fifteen reviews and I posted anyway, despite what I said in my last note last chapter. This time, though, I mean it. No more chapters until fifteen reviews. **

**No more. Must. Get. Fifteen. **

**This is the longest chapter yet, too! Hope you like it, because I'm not so sure about it. Fun to write, but I can't exactly read them objectively. **

**Review!**

MAX POV

Memories were easier to access in my file, since they were all right there _in_ the file with me. I could literally think of anything and it was right there, easy to remember.

I listened to every song I'd ever heard.

I remembered every book I'd ever laid eyes on.

Every person I'd ever met had surfaced in my head.

I analyzed every fight.

I relived every meal.

Every dream.

Every crime.

Every joke.

I was running out of trivial memories.

This was worse than the isolation tank had been. At least that'd only been a few hours. This was… going on… and on… like it would never end.

That's because it _won't_, I reminded myself. A shudder ripped through my consciousness and I quickly thought of the first thing that came to mind.

Fang. Of course.

But this time, every word I'd ever said to him, and every one he'd said to me, were right there. Memories I'd totally forgotten about popped into my head. I settled back into my memories, letting them wash over me, trying to salvage a bit of happiness left over from the days of the E-shaped house.

Could there possibly be a bit of joy left in those moments for me to seep up?

We'd lived there for a year…

_The sun began to rise over the trees surrounding me on three sides. I moved forward and then leaned back into the grass so I was staring at the sky directly above me. The sun hadn't reached it yet, so it was black and mysterious and foreboding. Just like my mood today._

"_Hey," came a voice. I jumped with fright and rolled over in the dewy grass so I was lying on my stomach._

"_Fang…" I complained as my dark-haired, twelve-year-old best friend slid into view, clad in jeans and a black sweatshirt. He stuck his hands in his pockets and grinned. "Didja have to sneak up me?" I asked, annoyed that my peace had been disturbed. _

_He thought about it for a minute. Then, "Yup," he replied smugly. Sighing, I rolled over so I was searching the sky again. _

_A twig bounced off my forehead, but by the time I'd shot up into a sitting position his hands were back in the pocket of his sweatshirt. I rolled my eyes and turned away from him, staring off into the woods. _

_Another twig bounced off the back of my head. That boy had _aim_. Ignore it, Max… Ignore it, Max… _

_A third twig skimmed across the very top of my head. Roaring in annoyance, I snatched a leg-sized branch from the ground and flipped over to face him, launching it at him. It landed where he'd been a moment before, but now he was in the air, wings halfway out, flying at me with a grin on his face. I rolled to the side to late and he was on top of me, holding my shoulders to the ground with his arms, his face a foot from mine, obviously pleased with himself._

_Usually I would have bucked him off and proceeded to chase him through the woods. Today I just wriggled out of his grasp and turned back to the woods, sitting up and wrapping my arms around my bent knees._

"_Aw, Max," Fang complained. I stayed silent, and he moved over so he was sitting right next to me, his wings extended symmetrically. "What is it?" he asked quietly. I glanced at his curious face before looking back at the trees in front of us._

"_You don't know?" I whispered. My words had a sudden effect on him – I felt him shudder beside me and he shoved his wings out over both of us protectively, instinctually. "It's a year, today," I breathed. _

"_Should we have a one-year anniversary party? Ig can make cupcakes," he offered, only half-joking. It _was_ a celebratory thing, being out for a year. But not something I was quite ready to throw a party for._

"_Shut up," I said, shoving him a little. I looked over at him again, knowing his words had done exactly what they were intended to do – get me out of my depressed mood. I was annoyed that I couldn't brood properly any more, but really I was grateful to my best friend. _

"_Come on," he suggested, snapping his wings out and leaping backwards, spinning in the air and flying off across the mountains. I stared after him for a moment, wondering what Fang would have done had the scientists not given him wings. _

_Probably been happy. Normal._

_I leaped into the air after him, feeling the air beneath my wings and wondering what in the world _I _ would possibly had done had I not been able to do that, and wondering what was so great about normal, anyway. _

The scene changed, but the time wasn't much later… maybe a week… Fang was wearing the same jeans, although there were holes in the knees now…

_The three of us – the older kids – were sitting in the same spot, but this time it was daytime, maybe noon, because I was full from lunch; Iggy had made burgers and hotdogs, and Angel had eaten three hotdogs all by herself. _

"_What do you think normal kids do all day?" I asked the boys on either side of me. Iggy was digging absently in the ground with a stick, and Fang was picking at some loose strings on the bottoms of his jeans. _

"_School." Fang said the word as if it were a dirty word. I shuddered and Iggy made a face. "I mean… regular school," he clarified, but the thought of _regular_ school was almost as disgusting as _our_ School. _

"_Homework," Iggy contributed. "And, like, sports and stuff. Church or something. What do Jewish people go to? Like, temple?" _

"_Yeah," Fang said, his eyes sliding over to me. He'd noticed that I hadn't said anything since voicing the question. Wondering what I was thinking. That kid could read me way too well. It was eerie sometimes._

"_I don't know…" I began, unsure. "I think maybe that would suck." Iggy laughed out loud and Fang's lopsided grin appeared on his face, making me smile slowly, too. "No… I'm serious. I'm not sure I could stand cleaning my room or whatever. Watching morning cartoons? Remembering to let the dog out? I mean, could you possibly get any more boring? At least _we_ have something to _do_." It was a scary confession, that I would rather not be normal. The words sat between the three of us, changing something. _

_Something subtle._

_Like, we'd always been dragged to our torture chambers._

_But maybe we could learn to walk into them with our heads held high. _

But times weren't always so serious, so deep… we'd had fun in that E-shaped house… fun? What was fun again?

I had only to prod my memories, stir them up, and again I was enveloped, engulfed in a happier time, a happier me…

"_Why aren't you married, Jeb?" Gazzy asked innocently one night at dinner. Jeb choked on his spaghetti and Iggy rolled his eyes. But, honestly, I'd pondered Jeb's ring-free ring-finger many times myself. Jeb was perfect – he was funny, he was nice, he was brave, he was smart… why _wasn't_ he married?_

"_I was, a long time ago," Jeb answered quietly, and I felt my eyes widen. I turned to look at Fang, but he was just as surprised as I. Even Iggy had raised his eyebrows in disbelief. _

"_Where'd she go?" Nudge prodded. Jeb smiled a little, but it wasn't the smile I was used to seeing on his face. There was no humor held in his face. I suddenly felt very insignificant and small compared to whatever was held behind that smile. _

"_We… _I_ left her," he said simply. "It was time to move on." With that, he took his plate to the sink and washed it quickly and efficiently. "Good night, kids. Lights out by nine for Angel, the Gasman, and Nudge. Ten for the rest of you. And Iggy, if the shoelaces to my shoes are not returned by lunchtime tomorrow, there will be trouble." Iggy squirmed beside me as Jeb disappeared into his room. Silence enveloped us for a minute or so. Then…_

"_Jeb was married?!" I knew Nudge couldn't have held it in a minute longer._

Later that night…

_We gathered in Iggy and Fang's room to play Monopoly. Iggy shoved some clothes off his bed and Fang kicked a few more out of the way so we could sit down. Iggy took special care with one bundle of clothes._

"_Bomb?" I asked, motioning toward the sweatshirt he was practically cradling in his arms. He grinned evilly. _

"_Maybe," he replied. "If it _was_ a bomb, it might be the biggest one I've ever created. Maybe even rigged up to some fireworks." He frowned. "If it _was_ a bomb, which it isn't." I rolled my eyes and we started our game._

_Fang walked down the hall with me later that night – we were going to turn out the kitchen light. Fang paused with his fingers on the light switch. _

"_You know I'm never going to leave, right?" he asked, frowning. I giggled._

"_We're not married," I reminded him, thinking of Jeb's words earlier. But Fang just shook his head. _

"_Right?" he pressed. I grinned._

"_If you ever did, I'd drag you back and beat your butt up for it," I replied. His brow clearing, he stuck his tongue out at me and felt for his bedroom door along the wall. _

"_No way. I'm way faster," he replied, but before I could smack him, his bedroom door clicked closed. Grinning to myself, I made my way back to my bedroom. _

But you have, Fang. You _have_ left me.

I'm all alone.

From now until eternity.


	16. Well, I Can't Say I Saw That One Coming

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed!! Here's the next chapter… hope everyone likes it and all… I'll post again at twenty reviews. That's five. You can do it. I know you can.**

**And it occurred to me yesterday that I haven't put in a disclaimer yet. So here goes.**

**Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Maximum Ride. It's , people. Get the message? So don't sue me please. **

**Claimer: I do, however, own my own personal plot. **

FANG POV

I landed shakily in the desert, spraying sand and pebbles up around me. Laying Max's body down beside me, I slid my backpack off slowly, hearing the thump as it landed behind me. I looked around, clenching and unclenching my fists, trying to control the trembling.

Trying to remind myself that there was a very good reason I had just landed less than a mile away from the last place on Earth I'd ever want to be.

I'd arrived at The School.

Taking a deep breath, I turned back to Max. Some of her bandages had come unwrapped while I flew, so I retied those. I unzipped my pack, took out my water bottle, and took a long sip. I poured a little on my hands and wiped off Max's arms, which had new dried blood on them.

I put my backpack back on and began the walk.

When the buildings came into view, shimmering in the heat, I almost imploded. Half of me was filled with dread stronger than anything I'd ever felt about anything else. But my other half was rejoicing – I'd finally reached the place where I would look into Max's eyes again, her real eyes. Her alive eyes.

She'd smile when she opened those eyes, maybe laugh a little, squirming and checking her arms and legs for injuries. She'd sit up slowly, look around… her eyes would find mine and widen a little… she'd whisper my name… "Fang?" Disbelief written all over her face… I'd wrap her in my arms and hug her hard, and she'd hug me back, and everything would be okay.

It would all be okay. It was very not okay right now, but soon all would be fine.

And then we'd get the flock back, and we'd get her mom and Ella back, and I'd never have to look at Max's dead eyes again.

But first I had to get to Jeb.

Which meant getting through the doors I had just reached. They were heavily padlocked – there were six locks and two chains across the door. No Invisirasers… but wait, if there _were_ Invisirasers it wasn't like I would be able to see them. I reached down and grasped some loose sand in my left hand, tossing it hard to my left. It sailed through the air and landed maybe twenty, thirty feet away. I did the same thing directly behind me and to my right. Nothing. I pocketed as much sand as I could fit into my jeans pockets for future tests.

"I don't think this is a very good idea," came a voice. Panicking, I snatched my bag, which I'd set down, and held Max tighter as I jumped straight into the air, flapping hard. I barely scrambled over the roof when two whitecoats appeared, walking around the corner together, talking quietly.

"Anyone who knows how to get here knows a lot about us. They'll know about the Invisirasers. They won't be stupid enough to come anywhere near here. We don't _need _guards as long as our enemies _think_ we have them!" the taller of the two exclaimed.

Jeb.

My breath caught in my throat. So Jeb was here, working for them again.

And there weren't any guards. How fantastically convenient. Thank you, Jeb.

"Still… it's not the most comfortable situation," the first whitecoat continued. Jeb shrugged.

"Maybe not, but it's certainly the most practical," he replied. They were turning the corner now. I set Max down and crawled across the roof slowly, following them along the length of the roof.

Jeb was now facing away from me. The other whitecoat was facing toward me, but he wasn't at the right angle to actually see me unless he looked straight up. I was safe.

"…you got that taken care of, correct?" Jeb was asking. The other man nodded.

"She's not been very cooperative, but we're working on it," he replied. I wondered vaguely who they were talking about. "And the four we just received, the real ones, they're getting their blood taken today, so that project will be on its way very soon. _She_ won't let us take care of the fifth one, the one that isn't ours, which is honestly rather troublesome. Maybe you could talk to her? After all, it's not anything special."

But the mysterious words were only slightly registering in my brain, because Jeb had suddenly stuck his hand behind his back and twisted two fingers together.

_It was a greeting – _it meant, I know you're here.

He'd taught it to us at the E-shaped house.

IGGY POV

"Hi!' I said cheerily as the whitecoat entered our cell. His footsteps stopped and his breathing increased ever so slightly.

Interesting. He was scared of us. I raised my hand and waived energetically, standing up and walking over to where his footsteps had stopped, holding out my hand. I didn't feel a hand grasp mine.

"You're supposed to put your hand in mine," I reproached him, "and let me shake it up and down. It's a sign of greeting, a polite gesture." No hand. I sighed. "Jeez, no manners around here. First you attack us and almost kill us. We get put in a cell with _no_ room service, and now, look at this! I can't even get a good handshake!" I exclaimed in mock horror.

I heard a little giggle behind me and grinned in triumph. This show I was putting on was for the rest of them. I had to show them there was still hope. I had to get the spirit back in their hearts, the fight back in their eyes. I couldn't let the School or the whitecoats or anyone break them. Without Max and Fang, it was up to me.

And I wasn't going to fail them.

"So, is this just a friendly visit, or did you bring us something? Like, dinner, maybe? Or breakfast… I'm not sure what time it is." I pretended to check my watch, peering through sightless eyes at my bare wrist. "Must be broken; I can't see the time," I muttered, shrugging. "Anyway, a meal would be greatly appreciated. Nudge is a vegetarian." The whitecoat stumbled backwards noisily before stopping and taking another deep breath. Jeez, what horror stories had they told him about us?

"I need to take blood from each of you," he explained. Silence. "So it doesn't matter who comes with me first, but I need you one at a time, except the tall girl." Ella.

"Thanks, but I think we'll pass," I replied.

"No… I have orders," the whitecoat explained, as if that cleared it all up.

"Oh, why didn't you say so?" I exclaimed. "If you have _orders_, we'll have to go with you… we'll walk pleasantly to our deaths as long as we're following your _orders_… wouldn't want your big mean boss to be upset with you…but, again, I think we'll pass."

"Fine." the whitecoat said firmly. "I have a gun. I'll shoot the little one if you don't come with me."

"Ha. If you had a gun, you'd have pulled it already," I said, hoping desperately I was right.

"Uh, Ig, he's got a gun," came Gazzy's small voice behind me. Crap. "It'll be okay, Iggy," Gazzy assured me. _He_ was reassuring _me_. I was terrible at this. How the heck did Max _do_ this?

"Okay, so I go to your little party," I said easily, walking toward the sound of the whitecoat's heavy breathing. "I'll be back, guys. Don't have too much fun without me." Holding my head high, I followed the whitecoat out of the cell.

FANG POV

Jeb's hands continued to move behind his back, quickly and purposefully. I squinted to make out the numbers flashing there.

3. 6. 9. 9 again. . 2 three times. . 6. 0. I repeated the numbers so I wouldn't forget. 36997321222765960, over and over in my head. Jeb paused and then flashed each number again, slower this time. I breathed the numbers as they appeared in his fingers, making sure I had it all.

As Jeb signed two more signs with his hands behind his back, walking away with the other whitecoat, the breath left Fang's lungs and he rocked backwards, sitting on the roof loudly.

His thumb tucked between his ring finger and his pinky finger with his index finger and his middle finger twisted- the sign for Max.

And the simplest sign of all – a thumbs up. It meant okay.

Max… is okay?


	17. CanIHaveSomethingtoBangmyHeadAgainst?

**A/N: Who can guess what the plan is? Or at least what it has to do with? Or **_**who**_** it has to do with…**

**Keep reviewing! Thanks to everyone who has so far, and to everyone who's put me on their favorite author list or this story on story alerts! I hope you keep loving it! **

IGGY POV

All they did was take my blood. A small needle inserted into my arm that I barely felt, a few seconds of waiting, and then it was all over. I was walked back to my cell and they took the rest, one by one, and did the same thing. Angel, then Gazzy, and, last, Nudge. They didn't take Ella, and for this I was grateful. She'd been scarred enough.

"So, what do you think they needed our blood for?" I asked for the millionth time. No one answered this time. I sighed, crossing my long legs and resting my head in my hands. A thought occurred to me, and I raised my head to look sightlessly across the cell where I knew Angel was sitting. "Angel? Didn't get anything?"

"No… the people taking our blood didn't know why they were doing it. It was just their job… they were just following orders. Doing what they were told. No one who knows why they did it is anywhere nearby. I'm sorry, Iggy," she said quietly, her frail voice quivering.

"Not your fault," I said quickly, annoyed with myself. "Not your fault. We'll figure it out, and then we'll get out of here. Max and Fang are coming. They're almost here, I'm sure of it."

"You're a good liar." Nudge's voice was flat and rough. She hadn't spoken all day. I sighed again.

"Yeah, I am, but you're good at seeing the truth, Nudge. They're coming. They always have. Have we ever lost? Have we ever failed?"

"Lots of times."

"Not when it counted. Not big things. Come on, can you really imagine Max _not_ coming for us? Any chance to beat up some whitecoats is like Christmas for her. And she's _always_ loyal to her family."

"If she was coming she'd be here by now."

"She's coming." I said it with finality, turning and running my fingers along the cold cement wall, feeling for cracks or breaks.

"There's nothing there, Ig," Gazzy said, his voice tired. My fingers faltered and fell to my lap, "There's no way out." Something in his voice made me want to cry. The kid was eight years old, probably nine by now. He should've been worrying about video games and birthday parties and baseball cards. Not when his next meal was coming. Not whether he was going to be killed by evil scientists in the near future or the far future. Not how to escape an inescapable cement cell somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

Tough break.

My fingers found the wall again, and I knelt, running them slowly along the bumpy wall, feeling each dent and scratch, wondering where they came from, who put them there, and where they were now, if they'd escaped. If they'd found what I was currently searching for – not only a way out of this cell, but a way out of the despair that had wrapped itself so tightly around my being, integrated into my body and my soul, moving and growing as I did, that it had almost become a second, psychological spine, 

holding me up, bracing me, so that I was not sure that, if it were to be removed, I would remember how to stand without its aid.

MAX POV

I reached out tentatively for the Voice. _Voice? Please…. _But there was only silence. _Jeb…_

_**Maximum. **_

_Took you long enough_, I reproached him.

_**I'm a bit busy at the moment, **_Jeb replied.

_Oh yeah? Me too. Busy going INSANE with no one to talk to. Don't you have something interesting to tell me? Something really terrible that's gonna make me feel like killing someone or sobbing or something? Some new revelation to ruin my existence? _

_**I don't want to hurt you, Max. I say what I say to help you, always. Never to hurt. Always to help. You know that. I've helped you many times, and yet you think of me always as the bearer of pain. **_And if I wasn't mistaken, there was pain in his voice as he said these words. I pondered this for a moment before responding.

_Whatever. Remind someone who cares. Moving on, you obviously know something you're not telling me, so spit it out. _

_**I know a lot of things you don't, Max, **_ Jeb pointed out. If I'd had a mouth I would have screamed at him in frustration.

_And yet I scored higher on the SAT than you. Again, remind someone who cares. _

_**Rudeness isn't going to get you information, Max.**_

_Maybe not, Jeb, but it amuses me, and I have the rest of eternity to get the info out of you, _ I reasoned. Made sense to me.

_**Maybe not.**_

Excuse me? What the heck did he mean by _that_? _Um, yes, I'm pretty sure I do, unless your prized new nugget of knowledge is that I'm actually _not_ dead, and this was, in fact, one very long, very strange dream. _

_**Wasn't it you who once said there was always a plan?**_ Jeb asked, ignoring me.

_Yes, I believe that bit of wisdom did come from me, _ I replied carefully.

_**There you go.**_

_What the heck._

_**Think about it.**_

_Okay… so there's a plan. Always. But… what's the plan this time? Mind filling me in? Does it involve getting me out of here? 'Cause, while that'd be extremely nice, I'm not so sure about the whole computer file thing. Would I be a floating floppy disk?_

_**Think about what I've told you.**_

I thought. I thought hard and long, so that I wasn't sure the Voice was still listening. Maybe a minute, maybe an hour, or a day, or a year, don't ask me. Eventually a tentative idea came into my head.

_**Good job, Maximum.**_

_Really? That's it?_ I asked, excited by the prospect of my idea.

_**Well, that's the most important part. **_Hope surged through my consciousness, and I would have hugged myself had I possessed arms or a body.

My joy lasted two point three seconds. Then reality came crashing back down on me.

_But I'm _here_, _I pointed out.

_**Actually, you are nowhere.**_

_Either way, I can't exactly go get her!_

_**True, **_Jeb allowed, and his voice, so impassive, infuriated me.

_So then what good is the plan if I can't do anything about it?_

**You**_** can't do anything about it, Maximum. But that doesn't mean it can't be done. **_

Well, that just made everything crystal clear. Thanks, Jeb. Helpful, as always.


	18. AllMaynotbeLost,butitSureSeemsLikeIt

**A/N: Two in one day!**

FANG POV

When Jeb was out of sight, I jumped down off the roof and quickly keyed the number into the small keypad to the left of the door. A red light flashed at the bottom of the pad.

Great. He'd given me the wrong password. Probably some alarm would ring now and I'd be taken out. Thanks, Jeb.

But then a thought occurred to me. I ran around the side of the building as quietly as I could. Another door was located at the end of the wall. I keyed the same password in, and another red light flashed.

I tried six more doors before I was rewarded. The red light was replaced by a green one, and something went click in the mechanism. I pushed at the door experimentally and it swung open.

Score.

Carefully, cautiously, I closed the door behind me, peering around the room. There were wires and lights flashing everywhere. Monitors showed what looked kind of like a heartbeat monitor, but the line was all wrong.

"Hello, Fang. I knew you'd come." I jumped a mile high and almost dropped Max. Taking a deep breath, I turned to face the voice.

"Jeb."

"Fang." We stared at each other in silence for a moment, and then I shifted Max's body in my arms. Her head flopped forward, facing Jeb, and he sucked in a breath, a hand rising to his mouth in horror. Anger surged through me. I set Max down on the floor and stalked up to Jeb.

"Yeah. That's what you did to her, you horrible person," I said savagely, wanting to rip him to shreds.

"I…"

"Not you, maybe, but your henchmen. Your Invisirasers."

"They weren't mine."

"Liar." Jeb's eyes came to rest finally on mine, and, for some reason, I believed him. There was something _true_ there, like he couldn't lie to me.

God, I was getting soft.

"Fix her,' I ordered, turning away, my voice hard again.

"I can't, Fang," he whispered. I turned to face him, but there was no sadness there. His daughter was lying before him, mangled, broken, and bloody, and he couldn't care less. I saw nothing in his eyes. No anger. No regret.

Only the truth.

JEB POV

The boy's pupils dilated before mine, his fists clenching, his eyebrows coming together.

And then, without warning, he punched me hard. His fist landed on my cheekbone, and pain shot across my face like fire. I gasped in pain, and he drew back and punched me again, this time connecting with my eye. He tried a third time, but this time I was ready. Despite my pain, I leaned to the side at just the right time. His fist brushed my ear and I grasped it, flipping him so he landed hard on his back. I shoved a foot against his gut and held him captive. You could always beat your own student. I guess that was the one thing I'd forgotten to teach him.

"NO!" he screamed, his face distorted with rage and pain. "You can fix her, you lying freak! You can, you can, you fixed Ari and _he_ was dead, you can, you can…" His screams were cut off by a sob. I took my foot away from him and he rolled over, smashing his fists against the ground. They made a loud cracking noise and he howled in pain, trying to grasp each of his now-broken hands with the other and realizing quickly it was a bad idea. Howling, screaming, sobbing, choking, coughing, he got to his feet, unintelligible words flowing from his mouth as he swung at me with his ruined hands. I caught his arms gently, pulling him down into the chair across from me. He tried to get up again, tried to swing at me, but I caught his hands this time, squeezing them enough to interrupt his swearing with a gasp of pain. Folding his arms across each other on the table, he sunk his head into the cradle he'd made and sobbed.

He was breaking my heart, the poor boy, and for nothing, because all was not lost.

FANG POV

"I can't fix her, Fang, but there is someone who can." The words made their way past my sobs to my brain. It took me another minute to register the words as English in my brain, to understand their meaning, and to react appropriately.

"What?" I asked, my voice hoarse. I lifted my head, ashamed, rubbing my eyes clean and gasping at the pain of it.

"Let's fix your hands," he said gently, reaching in his pocket for some splints and tape. Carefully, gently, he splinted and wrapped my fingers down past the knuckles. Like he was still playing Dad, back at the E-shaped house.

"As I said earlier, I cannot fix her."

"Why not?" I asked, taking my hands back from him and chancing a glance up at his face. It looked kind enough, but I wasn't taking any chances.

"Because I am not Max." No kidding. He sighed. "What I'm going to tell you won't make a lot of sense, and you might not believe me, but it's true, and it will save Max." I nodded, listening. And, to tell the truth, I was ready to believe him.

It wasn't like I had any other choice.


	19. A Hand Shake and Some Bombs

**A/N: I want to thank Julie AV and ****Ur.Fav.Gurl.Is.Here for being my most consistent reviewers! Thanks to everyone else who's reviewed, too. **

**I'm going to take a short break from this story because things are getting really crazy with school, and both of my parents' birthdays are coming up (and you guessed it – I don't have presents yet)… but don't worry, I'll be back to posting soon. No longer than a week. That will be my promise. If you review. **

IGGY POV

If Max and Fang weren't going to bust us out of here, I'd just have to do it myself.

That resolution was made considerably easier when the door swung open and a voice whispered from across the cell, "Guys, come on, get out of here!"

It was Max.

"Max?" came three confused voices.

"Max Two," Angel corrected quietly. Ah.

"And you're helping us because…" I trailed off, even as I scrambled up and reached out for Gazzy. He was there beside me, letting me touch his elbow light as a feather, as we walked together across the cell.

"Because you can help me, but not if you're stuck in this stupid cell." So she wanted something in return.

"What do you want?"

"Do you want out or not?" I nodded. "Then come on, follow me and ask questions later," she snapped. We trooped through the cold, silent hallways of The School, no one saying a word. Finally, we reached a door. It was opened and the fresh, clean air of the outdoors reached my nose. I sucked in the air gratefully, able to breathe fully for the first time in days.

"What do you want from us?" I asked as soon as we were outside. My words bounced off just right, telling me where the wall was. I stepped forward so she would be trapped between me and the bricks, and heard the scrape of shoe against brick that meant I'd been right. Maybe I had bat DNA in me, not bird.

"From _you_," she corrected. Her voice was so like Max's it was startling. But there were differences – hers was colder, more ruthless. But almost in a naïve way; she had experienced many terrible things, but she hadn't grown up in a dog crate in The School, hadn't watched her brother die.

"All right, what do you want from me, then?" I asked, annoyed. We needed to get out of here, quickly, before someone found us. But if we just took off, there was nothing stopping Max Two from yelling for the world to hear that we were escaping.

"I want them all dead." The words hung in the air, thick and unforgiving. I gaped at her.

No matter how badly I'd been treated there, no matter what truly horrible things had gone on inside those buildings, I couldn't just bomb them. That wasn't justice, that was revenge. It was wrong. "I'm not a murderer," I told her.

"Fine. I hope you liked that cell," she muttered, taking a deep breath, presumably to scream out.

"Wait!" I exclaimed. "You don't want to ask that. You don't want murder on your hands."

"Your hands," she pointed out.

"Yours, because you're the one giving the order. And not mine because I won't do it." She was silent for a moment.

"They created me out of a test tube. They took her genes and made me from them," she whispered. "I was born fourteen years old. I never grew up. I never saw the world from the innocent eyes of an infant. My mother never held me in her arms and whispered sweet things to me because I have no mother." The raw pain in her voice forced me back a step, because the words she was uttering sounded so much like the life I'd led. "I never had a birthday party or a best friend or even a freaking bedroom. And they did that to me. They made me this way. It's their fault." She paused, her breathing ragged. "And I want them to hurt. Do you understand? They hurt me and I want to hurt them because of it."

For a moment I almost agreed. The things they'd done to her – they'd done them to me, too. When she spoke of the mother she never had, a birthday never celebrated, a life without innocence… she was describing _me_.

Me… but that was the thing. Murder wasn't _me_. They could do what they wanted _to_ me, but they couldn't change _me_. I could still decide who I was going to be, what I could become, what decisions I was going to make and for what reasons.

They'd only left me with one thing – myself. I wasn't going to screw that up.

"Sorry. No can do," I said. "Gazzy, Nudge, combata." In a second they were on her, Gazzy holding her hands behind her back at a painful angle and Nudge wrapping her arms around the clone's head, smothering her surprised and angry calls. I sighed. We'd have to put her somewhere where she wouldn't be able to get to the whitecoats until we were long gone. "Let's find a building or something, lock her up," I muttered, turning as if I could actually find a building.

"Ah!" Gazzy cried out. A loud scuffling noise behind me made me spin around uselessly, my arms halfway extended to help Gaz with whatever it was.

"Don't destroy them. Don't kill them, if you won't, if you can't," gasped Max Two, her voice weak from the pressure Nudge had been putting on her windpipe. "Bomb the buildings when there's no one there. The buildings with no one inside. Destroy their work."

"There aren't any buildings with _no one_ in them _ever_, and I can't exactly go in and check," I pointed out, but her idea had promise. Still revenge, but it felt less wrong, somehow.

"There's one." I tilted my head, listening to her quiet words. "The farthest from the one we're outside, to the left. They never go in there. Ever. But there are the most padlocks on it… more than any of the other buildings. There's something really important in there… the way they look over at it sometimes… you can tell. But no one ever goes in there, ever." She took a deep breath. "Destroy it. You have bombs, I know you do. Destroy that building and you can go free with your family." Slowly, involuntarily, I reached down into my sock, tugging out a small explosive from each side of my foot, and then another two from the other shoe (there were more in pockets sewn into the insides of my pants and more still in hidden pockets in my jacket). I fingered the four bombs carefully, weighing them, rubbing them, imagining them exploding in a building filled with computers and experiments and monitors… things that, if they were destroyed, would make the whitecoats very upset… which would make me very happy…

"She's holding out her hand, Ig," Gazzy breathed from somewhere in front of me. Slowly, deliberately, I slipped the bombs into my pocket and held out my hand. Her cold hand grasped my warm, sweaty one, and when I shook her hand, a grin broke out on my face. Whitecoats, watch out.

Five minutes later, we were right outside the building Max Two said was both unoccupied and vital. Angel checked – there were no thoughts coming from inside the room.

"It's weird… there isn't anyone in there, I don't think…" she'd said, looking confused. I was too impatient to be concerned about her confusion just then.

"Either there's thoughts coming from in there or there aren't, Angel," I'd said.

"I know… I think you're safe. I'm pretty sure there aren't any people in there…" she'd assured me, but she hadn't sounded very sure at all. What that meant, I had no idea. But whatever… I was about to blow up major whitecoat treasures.

I leapt into the air, gathering my many bombs from various pockets in my jackets and jeans, making sure I had them all. There were maybe twenty or thirty in total – pretty good for someone who'd already been searched. I tossed some to Gazzy because I couldn't even hold them all at once, and for full effect they definitely had to be dropped at the same time.

"On the count of three," I called to Gazzy. "One." I heard Nudge, Angel, and Max Two take off and flap higher above us. "Two." I grinned in anticipation, tensing myself for the short flight upward that would take me out of harm's reach before the bombs exploded. "Th-" I didn't finish the last number, because just then Angel emitted the loudest, most agonized scream I'd ever heard, smacking me in the face with a gust of wind as she dove toward the ground, fear and anguish twisting her usually sweet, appropriately angelic voice into a screech that had even me flapping backwards in fright.


	20. Chapter Nine Point Five

**A/N: I just realized a few minutes ago that this never made it into the story. It was supposed to be at the end of chapter nine, right after the words "And with that, Maximum Ride let go." I somehow missed it, so here it is. Again, it is supposed to go BETWEEN CHAPTERS NINE (THE HARDEST THING) AND TEN (AFTER). It is NOT a continuation of what is happening right now. That will happen later. **

**Sorry for the confusion. **

FANG POV

"Fang…" My name was so quiet I almost thought she hadn't said it at all. But then her dry lips moved again. "Fang… I never said…" My hands, still pressing against her leg, began to shake. Her last words…

NO, I thought savagely. She was going to live. She would _not_ die in my arms in some godforsaken cave in the middle of nowhere with her family and the rest of the flock captured. Jeb could save her. He could do anything. He gave human kids _wings_; the least he could do was keep them alive.

"I…" she began, but it seemed that she couldn't continue. I wished I could breathe for her… my heart already beat for hers… And as two more words left her lips, the last light left her eyes, and something in me died, too.

"Love you." The inhuman howl that escaped me echoed back to my ears again and again, shattering my heart each time it reached my ears.


	21. Well That Changes Things

**A/N: Hey guys… sorry for all of you who have this story on story alerts… I was editing some stuff and I think every time I edited it you guys got an alert saying there was a new chapter 20… but small bit of importance here: I have changed ages. This now takes place ONE year after MR3. Max, Fang, and Iggy are 15, and you can apply that to the rest of their ages.**

**Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!**

ANGEL POV

"MAAAAAAAAAAX!" My voice was ripped away by the wind I created as I dove down toward the ground, my heart beating painfully in my chest.

But Fang, who was carrying Max, wasn't looking at me.

"IGGY!" he yelled loudly. "Don't! Get down from there before someone sees you!" It was at that moment that I landed beside Fang, falling painfully to my knees and throwing out my hands to brace my fall. I scrambled up, lurched toward Fang, and grasped his arm to steady myself.

Max was dead.

The tears came to my eyes before I had taken a breath, and then they were coursing down my cheeks and I couldn't breathe for all the sobbing. My hands went out to Max's tangled hair, to her broken face, stroking it as if comforting a dead body would bring the soul back into it.

"Angel, wait, it's not that bad," Fang said quickly, but I just looked up at him in despair, wanting to smack him for saying that. How could he say such a thing? Max was dead, and it wasn't _that bad_? I saw how he looked at her – we all did. And I heard his thoughts… he loved her, he loved her differently than the rest of us… she was our family… she was the leader… she was _Max_… how could he say that?

Nudge landed behind me, Iggy right behind her and Gazzy not far behind the older boy. Nudge's cry of shock was echoed by the Gasman's. The three of them stumbled over, Iggy looking confused and the other two stricken.

"She's dead," I whispered brokenly. "She's gone. Max is dead." I looked away, not able to bear the stricken look that passed over Iggy's face as he heard my words. Ella had finally made it over from her hiding spot around the other side of the building, and there were tears in her eyes, too.

"No!" Fang said finally, breaking into the small crying fest. He was the only one not sobbing his guts out. What had happened to him, that he didn't care about Max anymore? "No… guys, she's not dead!" Five heads snapped up to stare at him.

"Uh… yeah… she is," Gazzy said quietly. "Fang…"

"No, listen. She's dead, but she's alive, too…" he was struggling to find the right words, and I peeked into his head to understand… Jeb's words flowed from Fang's memories to mine and I gasped. He turned to me desperately.

"Tell them, Angel," he begged, looking away from me to Max's face, then away again out over the rest of The School. I barely understood what Jeb had explained to Fang, but I turned to the rest of the flock, looking into their sympathetic glances as they looked at Fang, trying to understand and explain. But Iggy suddenly kicked the ground hard, spraying dust all over us.

"She's _dead_! They killed her… it's their fault… Jeb, Jeb and the rest of the whitecoats…" his voice was strangled as he dropped to his knees, his face in his hands. He pulled them away, grabbing wildly at something in his pocket and lurching to his feet, jumping into the air and flapping upward. We watched him for a second, the silence punctured only by Nudge's whimper. And then…

"IGGY, NO!" Fang screamed, tossing Max at Gazzy and Nudge, who reached out together to grasp her in surprise, struggling under her weight. But Fang was already in the air, his strong wings flapping madly, a mask of determination covering the weariness there.

"They killed her, Fang! They killed Max! They're all gonna die!" Iggy snapped, dropping the bomb in his hand. With a yell of surprise, Fang did the only thing he could do to get the bomb – he folded his wings in and dropped, snapping them out at the last second, his fingers outstretched…

They closed around the bomb and Fang twisted in midair to land beside the building. Iggy's face was distorted with rage, but Fang's was calm as he turned it to his friend in the air.

"Iggy, you can't blow that building up. Max is in there." The surprise on Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy, and Ella's faces melted a second later into shock as another person entered the picture.

"Hello Iggy, Nudge, Angel, Gazzy. Ella. Fancy seeing you here," Jeb said pleasantly, rubbing his hands together as he ambled across the courtyard toward us.


	22. Sort of One of a Kind

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in forever! I've been really busy with school and everything. There might be another story in the works that takes place back in MR2, Fang's perspective, so if that sounds interesting tell me! **

**Anyway, as always, read and review and I'll keep posting. **

MAX TWO

So, I'd finally convinced "Iggy" to blow up the building, right? Just some building; I didn't know which one. Not the point. The _point_ was that I was _finally_ getting some revenge on those stupid whitecoat idiots who'd created me in the first place.

And then the dark one, "Fang", had to come along towing Max's dead body and freak everyone out.

That still would have been okay, really, because Iggy was so incredibly pissed that his "leader" Max was dead he could have blown up every building in the complex, but Fang had to go open his big mouth and tell everyone that Max was inside the building Iggy was about to blow up. Not true, obviously, since he was carrying Max in his arms. Kid's off his rocker if you ask me.

Not that anyone does.

Ever.

_Anyway_, then Jeb has to come along, ready to explain everything, just like usual, and the gullible little bird kids just _had_ to believe darling Jeb. Since he's always shown how trustworthy he was. Like, hello! How many times has this guy lied to them, and they just _believe_ him without any proof or anything?

No one so much as glanced at me. Not the littlest one, even though she could hear my annoyance because she can read minds. Not Jeb, who created me and therefore should care about me just as much as the other freaks he created. Not the new addition, Ella, even though she was just as much an outcast on this little party as me.

I should have known better than to believe my plan was actually going to work. Nothing ever works when you're the clone of a kid with wings. I mean, you start out with two strikes against you, you know?

Of course you don't. I'm kind of one of a kind.

I was pondering this when Jeb turned to face me. "Max," he said kindly, and I felt like smacking him. Little two-faced idiot. "Max… have you been listening to my explanation?" I shook my head, looking away. I'd been too preoccupied with my own annoyance to listen to Jeb's lies about Max and the building. "Okay. Could you let me explain it to you? Because everything depends on you listening and understanding and cooperating, Max." What? The original Max was created to save the world. I was just created to mess her up. Since when did anything depend on _me_?

I turned to face him, rubbing my palms on the sides of my pants, eyebrows narrowed. "I'm listening."


	23. Half of a Whole

**A/N: So, I know, I haven't written in forever… but a ton of stuff's been happening. So sorry. I hope I haven't lost any of my faithful readers… it'd be great if you could review after you read this, just to let me know people are out there that still want to read this. Anyway, I'm going to try to write more chapters very soon, so stay posted. **

FANG POV

"No." The second the word was out of the stupid clone's mouth, I lost it. Lunging at her, I felt my fist connect satisfactorily with her eye. Let her find out the hard way what happens when you refuse to cooperate with _me_.

Strong arms were around me in a second, but I was stronger. Especially when I was _this_ angry. Jeb didn't have a chance. Breaking from the circle of his arms easily, I snapped my fist out at Max Two again. She was ready this time and ducked, but my fighting skills were far superior to hers, and my next jab hit her hard in the shoulder. She stumbled backward.

"Fang!" Jeb shouted. Yeah, like I was going to listen to him. "Fang! Listen to me!" He grabbed my shoulders and spun me to face him. "She's Max's only chance!"

"Then I guess she's got no chances, because I'm not helping her!" Max Two insisted, and I growled and spun out of Jeb's arms, done with all this talking, to hit her unsuspecting face. I'd thought punching her might be hard, since she looked so much like my Max, but it was easy. Easier when her eyebrows narrowed and she frowned at me. She looked like a totally different person.

So easy to smash my broken knuckles into her nose, to watch her fall to the ground, to stomp on her bleeding face.

So easy to fall to my knees beside her, to wrap my fingers around her neck, to squeeze as hard as I could… so easy…

I felt two pairs of arms around me. Gazzy and Nudge weren't as strong as me, but together, with the help of Iggy, who'd gotten the gist of the situation, they managed to pull me off of the stupid clone. Gazzy and Nudge fell off of me, sitting in the dust, looking scared and upset, their eyes still red from crying over Max.

"Chill, man," Iggy muttered in my ear. "We need her."

"You heard her… she's not going to help us," I insisted, struggling under Iggy's iron arms. Gazzy helped Iggy drag me away to the shadow of the building closest to us – about twenty feet away from Max Two, who was now sitting up and feeling her nose. It looked like it might be broken. Good, I thought with satisfaction.

"Fang." It was Jeb. I stopped struggling in Iggy's arms to look up at him, my eyes shutting down. Anger was an emotion. I needed to remember that I was Fang the Emotionless.

That was rather hard to do with the corpse of the girl I loved sitting less than twenty feet away.

But I was working on it.

"Jeb."

"Fang, you need to listen to Iggy. You heard what I said. Max is in her file in that building. We need a similar mind to access it. A similar consciousness… alike in every way…"

"They're nothing alike," I muttered. "Max is smart and funny and quick and she knows how to fight and what to do and… and _that_ thing over there can't do anything. They're not the same."

"DNA, Fang. It's all in the DNA," Jeb reminded me patiently.

"DNA?" I scoffed.

"DNA allows you to be one of the most amazing creatures in the world, Fang."

"Flattery? Really, Jeb?" I asked wearily, tired of all of this.

"No, facts. We need _that_ Max," he said, pointing with his head at the clone, who was standing up slowly, glaring at me, still rubbing her nose, "in order to retrieve _your_ Max." My Max.

"_She's_ not Max," I spat, standing up and brushing my hands off on my jeans.

"Whatever you want to call her, we need her," Iggy murmured. "Jeb's right, Fang. We have to put up with her. Come on, let's get in that building. We're getting Max back."

Right. Getting Max back. I strode away from Iggy and Jeb, back to the body sprawled in the dust of the courtyard. I'd thought being reunited with my flock would help ease my pain, but it only made it worse, seeing my own pain reflected in their eyes, reminding me of it, doubling it every time I looked at one of them.

I felt so alone without Max, like there was no one left in the world that really understood me. I had the rest of the flock, sure, but Max and I were different, and I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to be able to function normally like this. I just missed her so much… I was so _alone… _It was as if we were two halves of a whole… but she was gone, and I felt like I was cut in half.

**A/N2: And I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before or not, but there's another story out there by me called "Schools Out Forever REMIX Fang Style" that you might want to check out!**


	24. Save the Saver of the World

**A/N: Here's another chapter for you, but really, please review. It takes ten freaking seconds, people. You don't even have to say anything interesting if you don't want. **

**And this is a three-point-of-view chapter, too! Ooh, ahh, special. **

**I'm getting restless without Max and Flock interaction… **

IGGY POV

So, Fang was freaking out. Even after we'd pulled him off of Max Two (who I also felt like beating up, truthfully). Even after we'd explained to him that just because we all wanted to beat the stupid clone up didn't mean it was the most intelligent of decisions. I could hear it in the way he breathed and sense it in the way he moved around jerkily, not leaving Max's body, not talking. He was _not_ dealing. He was taking this much harder than the rest of us.

He was pretty much falling apart.

And I didn't know what to do.

"Jeb?" I called softly. I heard his feet against the dead grass as he made his way over to me.

"Yes, Iggy?"

"Max Two isn't going to listen to us," I said quietly. I took a deep breath, trying to sound like Max when she sounded in charge, even when I could tell she had no idea what she was talking about. "But she trusts you, I think… or at least she likes you, or wants your attention, or something. Can't you talk to her, make her understand?"

"I've tried, Iggy." Carefully, making sure I aimed right, I shot my hand out, grasping his collar and yanking his face to mine. We were about the same height.

"No. You haven't tried. Not enough, anyway. She won't listen to us. But she _will_ listen to you. Now go over there and get her to help us. There are six –" I coughed, "Five of us, and one of you. And _we're_ the genetically enhanced ones," I pointed out, my tone icy and menacing, my hands curling up into fists. I would totally have been afraid of me. Go Iggy. Jeb sighed.

"I'll try," he said, sounding tired. Yeah, _he_ was tired? I hadn't seen him in any cement cells lately.

Or, you know, heard him in them.

JEB POV

I approached the clone of Max carefully. She was standing with her back to the rest of the children, looking out over the school, presumably for other whitecoats. I wondered how much time we had before someone found us. Not long, I decided. We'd already been here a good ten or fifteen minutes. And explaining why I let the six captives go, and let the clone wander around without someone with her, was going to be difficult.

"Max?" She turned slightly to glare at me. I smiled a little – she looked so fierce, and I'd made her that way – before continuing. "Max, we need your help."

"Go away." Ah, but the original Max had been so much more creative.

"Max, this is very important."

"I said go away." I sighed. Fine. If she was going to be difficult, I wasn't going to fight fair.

"Max, you're a clone of a girl with wings," I began. She snarled quietly, turning to face me full on, her fists clenching. "It's not as if you have big important things coming up for you in life. The original Max… she was designed to save the world, and I still believe she's going to. But you… you're obsolete. We thought she might not be able to fulfill her purpose, but we've reconsidered. Now you're here while they wait to decide what to do with you." The growl that rose in her throat was animalistic. I put a hand on her shoulder and she shook it off. Smiling sadly, I put it back on her shoulder, and she glowered before me. "You want a purpose? You want a reason to live? A mission?" She looked away, and I knew I'd gotten it right. I lowered my face to her level – she was only about two inches shorter than me, anyway – and spoke softly. "Save the person who will save the world," I implored.

MAX TWO POV

So, this sucked. Jeb had pretty much just told me that I was completely useless except for the one thing I _didn't_ want to do.

But I knew I would do it.

Besides the obvious problem of the five very fierce winged kids waiting for Jeb's OK to rip me to shreds… well, I almost _wanted_ to do it. Maybe if I saved the flock, they'd look at me with something other than disdain and disgust. Maybe I'd mean something to someone besides the annoying experiment they couldn't control.

Maybe I'd finally be someone.

I turned to face Jeb, who was waiting for me with an expectant look on his face. I sighed, trying to make it look like no big deal. Flipping some hair over my shoulder, I glanced around. "So, what is it I have to do again?"


	25. Fang is NOT Max

FANG POV

I waited until the rest of the flock was in the building before entering. I knew I was losing it, and I needed to remind myself that I was the leader until Max got back.

Which had better be really soon because I sucked at this leader stuff. Comforting the little kids? Hah. Gazzy and Angel had been in tears for fifteen minutes straight. I _sucked_. Seriously.

My head was pounding, too, which was just _fantastic_. I wasn't used to getting headaches (genetically enhanced skill or disposition to good head health, I had no idea), but this was bad. Really bad. Like, the dim light in this room was making me squint.

There were tons of monitors and computers – this was the same room I'd been in with Jeb earlier. I took a longer look this time. The monitors I'd compared to heart rate monitors must have been some sort of brain wave monitor or something. I strode up to one without thinking, my fingers moving to touch the screen. That was Max. Those little blips were her thinking… what was she thinking about?

Was she thinking about _me_?

Did she know I was thinking about _her_?

"See those spikes? That's a higher range of emotion," Jeb said, reaching out to stroke one of the particularly high spikes on the monitor before it moved out of the screen. I looked at him with alarm.

"Like what? Like she's really scared or something?" I demanded, and he shrugged.

"It could be that. Or she could be really happy about something," he said. I narrowed my eyes at him and then looked back at the monitor. It was a little bumpy, but there were no more spikes. Suddenly, I turned on Jeb.

"You have the Voice, right? Just go talk to her! Tell her it's all right, tell her we're getting her out! Tell her we're here! Tell her _I'm_ here!" I was yelling now. Everyone had stopped milling around to glance over at the two of us. I ignored them.

"That takes a lot of concentration, Fang," Jeb said, frowning.

"The hell it does! So concentrate!" I exclaimed. Jeb's frown deepened.

"Fang, right now we need to get Max out of these machines. I can't do that and talk to her at the same time," he said, turning from me.

Suddenly something in my head snapped. Like a knife, pain shot through my brain. I staggered a little, grasping the table beside me, trying not to cry out.

_You're Fang. You have no emotion. You do _not_ feel pain_, I reminded myself. _You do _not_ feel pain, you do _not_ feel pain, you do _not_ feel pain._ My brain begged to differ, and then it was my stomach, too. I clutched at my stomach, turning away from the flock and gasping for air. Iggy was beside me in a second.

"What is it, man?" he asked.

"Nothing," I gasped, clenching my teeth together. "Fine." Iggy looked very unconvinced, but that was not my priority right now.

My priority was not freaking _dying_, because suddenly that seemed exactly like what I was about to do. Screw the Fang-has-no-feelings crap, I was barely able to keep from screaming. I fell to my knees, the pain so overwhelming I didn't notice Jeb until he was yelling my name in my ear. Groaning, I sank completely to the floor, putting my hands over my head to block his voice. The pounding in my head did a good job of that, too.

"FANG! You are NOT Max! You're FANG, and you're going to STAY WITH ME!" Jeb's voice penetrated the pounding. I tried to focus on his words, tried to remember their meaning, but my brain was too frazzled for that. "Fang! FANG!" That was me, right? My name was Fang? I heard screaming somewhere in the distance and vaguely identified it as Angel's. There I was again, going and making them upset. I really needed to get this leader thing under control.

"FANG. You are NOT Max!" Why did he keep saying that? "Listen, Fang. This will go away if you concentrate. You are FANG. You are NOT Max!" He sounded totally freaked. Since when did he care if I died? Anyway, I tried to listen, tried to concentrate on what he meant. Max was dead, at least for the time being. But I wasn't. I was Fang, and I was alive, and I wasn't going to die because Max was coming back and I was going to be the first thing she saw when she woke up.

I was going to see Max again.

I just needed to not die.

And just like that, it was gone.

I looked up at the faces above me. Angel, Gazzy, and Iggy were white, their eyes wide. Nudge was crying silently. Ella looked freaked, and even Max Two looked vaguely interested. Jeb was looking very relieved.

"What the _hell_ was that?" I snarled.


	26. Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?

MAX TWO POV

"What the _hell_ was that?" the cringing boy on the ground snarled, sitting up carefully. I watched with interest. Not that I cared if he was in pain, but it _was_ entertainment. Also, it was a distraction from the project they were all so freaked out about, the one where they had to use me. So, double the fun.

"Are you all right?" Jeb asked. Why did he care so much about them? _I _was the one he should care most about. I was the one about to do him a huge favor. Plus, the entire flock obviously hated him.

"Dandy," Fang said, standing up. "Why did you keep telling me I wasn't Max?" Jeb suddenly looked a little uncomfortable.

"I could tell you, but it would take a very long time, and we need to do this quickly, because someone's going to come soon," he said. Fang looked at him for a long moment.

"Okay," he decided. "You _will_ tell me later, though." Jeb nodded briskly before turning to the closest computer. He typed something and the screen went blank.

"Okay… I've never done this before…" Jeb trailed off, rubbing his hands together. He sighed and then continued. "But it should be fairly straightforward."

Suddenly, the littlest one – Angel, although she certainly wasn't one – gasped. Everyone turned to look at her.

"Jeb!' she exclaimed. "You can't…"

"Angel," he said, a warning tone in his voice. Oh, right, she could read minds. What was he planning, then? "Do you want Max back?"

"Yeah…" she whined, trailing off. Her brother took her hand, looking worried. She concentrated for a second, and then he gasped, too.

"That's where... that's what…" he muttered, looking at me warily. "Jeb…"

"What is it?" Nudge asked, but Jeb held up his hand.

"You are all going to have to trust me if you want me to do this," he said quietly. "Angel, I obviously need you to…" he trailed off, probably thinking the rest of it. Freaks.

"Yeah, okay," she said quietly, glancing at me, too. I grinned evilly and she whimpered. The Gasman (where _did_ they get these names?) squeezed her hand.

"Max?" Jeb asked, and I glanced up. "There are some wires I need to attach to you."

I shrugged, boosting myself up onto the table. He quickly found some wires hanging off the computer. They had small pads on the ends – they were sticky, apparently, because he stuck them on the sides of my head. The computer made a bunch of beeping noises. "What's going to happen?" I asked, but no one answered. Go figure.

Jeb gasped then. "What?" I asked, but, again, no one answered, so I jumped off the table and went to look at the screen myself, careful not to trip on the wires. It looked pretty boring to me – two green lines, maybe heart rates, making squiggly lines on the screen, one below the other. One was much straighter than the other. "Is that my heart?" I asked. He shook his head, distracted.

"No… it's… something else," he said evasively. I shrugged again, feigning indifference, wanting him to go ahead and save his precious Max so I could get out of here. "Okay. Now…" he clicked some things, and suddenly there was a voice in my head.

…_**wish Jeb, or the Voice, or whatever, would come back. I'm bored. This is bad… even the isolation tank was better than this. Jeb said my idea was right, but he seemed calm about it, even though I can't fetch Max Two**_**…**it was saying.

It was my voice.

MAX POV

I was thinking pleasantly to myself, being a good little floating consciousness, when my peace was quite rudely interrupted by my own voice.

Except I totally _wasn't_ thinking what I was thinking.

…_what's going on, I'm not thinking that, what's Jeb doing to me? Am I going crazy, or is that something he's doing? What's happening? Why does my head hurt so much? _

It was me, but it wasn't.

Which meant that either I was going schizophrenic on myself or Jeb had found my clone.

Normally I would have been fairly confident in my own mental health, but considering recent events, I wasn't sure. Could she hear me, too? _Hey, Max Two?_

_**What? Who is that? What's happening?**_

_It's Max,_ I explained carefully, wishing I had a body so I could jump up and down and hug myself. I was getting out of here!

_**Getting out of where? And what do you mean, you're Max?**_

_I'm the real Max. I know you think I'm dead, but I'm not. I'm in a file. And you're here to save me, right?_

_**I guess. Not exactly my favorite activity.**_

_Yeah, well, thanks,_ I said, recalling the time when she'd tried to kill me.

_**Not sorry about that.**_

_Nice to know,_ I replied. _Do you think you could show me what's going on? I mean, I'm pretty sure we're hearing each other's thoughts, so can you just… think about what's going on and everything?_

Her voice in my head was gone for a second, and then a room flickered into view. It was strange, because I wasn't actually seeing it. It was more like I was picturing it in my mind.

The first thing I saw was Jeb. He was looking very happy and staring at me… or I guess he was staring at Max Two. The scene swiveled slightly, revealing Angel's face, and Gazzy's, and Nudge's and Iggy's. I felt like crying with relief.

And then there was Fang. He looked slightly nauseous, actually, but still Fang. Still determined and cautious and amazing and…

The view turned back to Jeb as he pressed a button on the keyboard of the computer in front of him, and then it all disappeared.

Just as everything went crazy.

MAX TWO POV

I was actually being a good person, showing Max her messed up little family.

I repeat: I was being _good_.

Why was it that nothing could ever just work right in my life?

The room around me disappeared quite suddenly. It was replaced with a strange scene. Whitecoats were running around everywhere, yelling and calling out to each other… but it was strange, too fast, like fast-forward on a movie. And then it changed, and I was in a cage, being poked, and then a different cage, and then I was in a maze… a treadmill… a yard… but it was all too fast, and everything was changing so quickly, flicking from room to room, scene to scene…

Too fast…


	27. Not Quite Whole

**A/N: Sorry I haven't posted in a while… I've been busy and stuff, and my r and y key are both broken, so that's annoying. Anyway, hope you like it. **

FANG POV

One second Max Two was swinging her legs and staring at me strangely, and the next she'd slumped off the table and was twitching madly. Jeb dove at her, trying to keep the wires attached to her head. I knelt down quickly to help, grabbing at her head, smashing the wires hard against her ears and hair.

"She's downloading," Jeb panted as Max Two's arm swung out and smacked him in the face. "She's reliving every memory of every second of Max's life… but probably much faster." That did _not_ sound like fun.

"And then… and then Max'll be back?" I asked, not quite wanting to believe him as he nodded. What if he was lying? What if something went wrong? I didn't think I could stand losing Max again. The body between us twitched again, and Jeb smacked a hand on her forehead, keeping the wire attached. I felt like asking him if he was sure, felt like doing a lot of things.

What I did not feel like doing was dying, but, quite suddenly, I was sure that that's exactly what I was doing.

"Not again," I barely muttered as the wave of pain crashed over my head, chest, and stomach. My hands fell from the body in front of me and I crashed to the ground, trying to keep my brain in my head and my stomach from heaving. I panted into the floor.

"Fang?" I heard voices from around me, but I couldn't respond. The pain was so overwhelming there was nothing I could do but moan and squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for the end.

"Fang!" Gazzy's panicked voice cut through the haze of pain. I tried to tell him I was okay, even though it totally wasn't true, but my brain wasn't working right. I rolled over, trying to sit up, gasping, but slipped to the ground as another wave of pain hit my stomach. I coughed violently and it racked through my chest. I grabbed at my shirt, trying to get to my heart so it wouldn't hurt so much. "Fang… Jeb says to tell you you're not Max again. He says it's really important that he be with Max Two right now, so he can't come explain it to you, but you're Fang, not Max." There was a pause, which was interrupted by me groaning again. My head was going to explode any second now. I opened one eye and everything was red and black around me.

"Fang?" It was Iggy. "Fang, man, come on, stay with me." I tried to focus on his words, but they weren't really making sense. Fang was me? That's who he was talking to? My whole body racked with coughs as I tried to dislodge whatever was keeping me from breathing. "Fang! Come on, Fang, come on… Jeb! He's not breathing! What's happening to him?"

I didn't hear the answer, but I didn't need to. I knew what was happening.

I was dying.

I just didn't know why.

IGGY POV

"Jeb…" I growled warningly. "If you don't tell me what's wrong with Fang in three seconds, I'll kill you."

"No, you won't. I'm saving Max," he said simply. How I hated logic. Also, Jeb.

"Just tell me!" I exclaimed, but just then Fang stopped twitching. I wondered how he looked – probably _not_ good. "Jeb! He's out!"

"That's probably better for him. Less pain," Jeb said. I growled. "Iggy, I'd love to explain everything to you, but right now I need to make sure Max downloads correctly. If these wires come unattached, all of this will be for nothing. She should be done shortly." Done shortly. Like he was talking about a meal or something.

Not like he was talking about Max. Our Max. And Fang… God, what would I do if Max didn't come back and Fang was…

Not thinking about that. They'd both be back and ready for action very, very soon. Right?

"Iggy?" I heard a small voice. I turned and pulled Angel into my side, feeling her small shoulder shake as she sobbed. "Iggy, is Fang dead?"

"No," I said quickly. "No, he's just out for a while. It's okay, Angel, it's okay…" I put my other arm around her and hugged her tight, and then I felt Gazzy there, too, and I reached out to put an arm around his shaking shoulders. "It's okay, guys," I insisted, one arm slung around each of their small, frightened bodies.

And then Nudge was there, holding tight to my hand, her other arm wrapping around Angel, and the four of us huddled together… a lopsided huddle, missing two, not quite whole.

But we were getting there.

"Yes!" came a triumphant voice about five feet in front of me.


	28. And Then There Were Six

MAX

"Are you sure?" a sweet voice asked anxiously from somewhere above me.

"Yes. She can probably hear us right now, actually. Max?" another voice continued. This one was deeper and different somehow.

"She can hear us?" This one was childish and excited. "Max! Hey, Max! We saved you! Well, Jeb did, really, but…"

A slightly higher but no less excited voice picked up where the other one had left off. "But whatever… you're here now! You've been gone for a really long time and now you're back!"

"Can she hear us?" the first voice asked. "Can you tell, Jeb?" Who was this Jeb person? And who were these voices?

"Yes… I don't think she's quite processing yet, though. The download's almost complete… another minute or so. Just wait another minute," the deep voice instructed with a serenity that left me in awe.

FANG

Somewhere behind the haze of pain, my consciousness began to stir. My brain began to understand how to function again, began to remember what living was, what normalcy was.

Slowly, feeling crept back into my limbs. First, my fingers, then all the way up my arms to my shoulders and down my back to my legs and feet and toes. And the feeling wasn't pain… it was just feeling, which was a good sign. My head was clear of the pounding I still so vividly remembered, and my heart and lungs seemed to be functioning without a problem. My eyes didn't quite remember how to open yet, and I couldn't quite master actually moving or talking, but simply lying there alive was enough for right now.

Whatever was killing me hadn't won quite yet.

MAX

Memories began falling into my head like raindrops, constant and new and exciting and relentless. I was Max… I'd died, but not really, and someone had saved me. Jeb had saved me, or my clone, or someone… I wasn't sure, but the details were hardly the most compelling issue right now, because suddenly I could think and remember again.

There was something else, though… some part of me I was missing. I didn't quite feel right; something was unbalanced, and I searched my brain for the memory that would unlock the last part of me to myself.

FANG

All around me, people were talking.

"Why isn't she waking up?"

"What about _him_?"

"Can Fang hear us?"

"How about Max?"

"What's wrong with Fang? Will you tell us now?" Yes, what _was_ wrong with Fang? That was the million dollar question, in fact.

MAX

Suddenly my eyes seemed to work. They snapped open, revealing a plain, white ceiling that quickly became the most beautiful thing I had ever seen simply because it was the only thing I'd ever truly seen. I sat up slowly, amidst cheers I ignored. Something wasn't done, something wasn't right.

FANG

I opened my eyes slowly, dragging myself into a sitting position. I turned to the side, letting the sweet air fill my lungs as I appreciated being able to breathe again.

MAX

What was left? I had my identity and my body and something still wasn't right…

FANG

But something was still wrong, despite my current state of not dying. Something…

MAX

And then my eyes fell on someone familiar,

FANG

And I felt them widen,

MAX

And my heart felt a little funny for a second, as if it were

FANG

Expanding, swelling with joy, and everything came rushing back all at once, and

MAX

Finally I remembered. Finally I understood. I was dead,

FANG

I was dying,

MAX AND FANG

But now my family was here… now the one I loved more than anything else in this world was here, and before didn't matter and after didn't matter because the only thing that could possibly matter at all was right now, because right _now_ I was finally alive again.

Finally whole again.


	29. Dark in the Middle of the Light

**A/N: Yeah, I know it's short, but it doesn't fit in the next chapter, and it certainly didn't fit in the last chapter. **

MAX TWO

Somewhere, in this infinite moment of joy, a consciousness awoke in darkness and nothingness.

It didn't take long to realize upon regaining awareness that something was very wrong.

Screaming would have been a good option, but it wasn't an option, as I wasn't currently occupying a body.

Suddenly, I understood.

I understood what Jeb had done. Done to me, to save his precious real Max.

Again, screaming would have been nice.

Screaming with no air from no lips into nothingness would have been better than simply existing as a mind, as a thought, as nothing but a blip on a thought wave monitor in an underused, plain, white building in a top-secret, highly illegal facility in the middle of the desert.


	30. The Best First Words: Holy Crap!

**A/N: So I know I've been a terrible person and haven't updated in forever. School again… but I swear I'll post more often for a while!!! I hope I still have readers out there… let me know that you're still reading this! **

**So I often don't decide what happens in my stories. They decide for me. Anyway, I'm really glad Max is back because I was getting restless without some Max-Flock interaction! **

MAX

"Holy crap." So I wasn't one for eloquence. I hadn't exactly had a lot of practice in planning my first words. But those seemed good enough, for Fang's eyes glowed and his perpetually frowning face lit up as he grinned. I reached a hand across the space between us to touch him, to make sure that this perfect moment was actually happening.

Just as my fingers grazed his shoulder, I was attacked.

By Angel.

"MAX!" she screamed, her skinny arms flinging around my neck and latching on. "Max… you were… you were dead… and they caught us and tested us and we escaped and your clone was here and we were going to blow it all up but then Fang came and you were dead… and Iggy… and Jeb… and Fang… and… and…" I laughed into her beautiful blonde hair, hugging her back.

"Oh, Ange, I didn't think I'd ever see you again!" I exclaimed, feeling very hallmarky and not caring in the least.

"Iggy told me it would be okay," she said seriously. I looked over her small blonde head to grin at the tall boy slouched in the corner of the room. As if feeling my gaze, he grinned and straightened.

"Did you rest in peace?" he asked, making his way across the room. He held out his hand for a high five but I ignored it, letting go of Angel only to hug Iggy hard. He laughed and hugged me back, picking me up and spinning me in a circle, and then I turned to Gazzy and Nudge, who looked very young in their happiness as I kissed the tops of their heads.

And then, taking a deep breath, I turned to face the one member of my flock remaining. I bit my lip as I looked up at Fang. He stared back silently, obviously not going to say anything, although the look in his eyes kind of said it all.

"Do you have anything really clever or, like, hallmarky or something to say?" I asked. He tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Um… no?" he tried, and I let the grin slip back onto my face.

"Good," I breathed, throwing my arms around his neck. For the first time in his life, Fang didn't pull away or freeze. His arms were wrapped tightly around my back in a second and he hugged me so hard I couldn't breathe. I was so happy it didn't matter – I'd have happily stayed there forever.

So maybe this whole getting in touch with my feelings thing isn't so good for my health, then, huh?

"Don't _ever_ do that to me again," Fang whispered in my ear without letting me go. I smiled.

"I'll try," I assured him. "I seem to remember you making a similar promise?"

"Then we're even," he muttered, reluctantly letting go of me.

Someone was waiting for me.

"Max." It was Jeb.

"Jeb…" I wasn't sure what to say. It certainly appeared that he'd just brought me back from the sort of dead. But… he was still Jeb. Knowing him, there were fifteen puzzles left for me to complete before I _really_ died. "Uh, thanks," I muttered, feeling like I could at least give him a five second break since he had, after all, recently revived me. "For, you know…" I stared at him for a moment longer, unsure of what exactly you said to a man you totally didn't trust but to whom you owed your life.

"Um, guys?" a voice called from the corner. I glanced over – Ella!

"Ella!" I exclaimed, but her expression was far from excitement.

"There are people coming, I think," she whispered.

Crap.

Everything froze for a full second. Then we all glanced at Iggy. He nodded.

"Crap… I wasn't listening… there are seven, maybe eight or nine of them?" he murmured. I looked around, frightened that I hadn't already found the escape routes. There – a door across the room from the direction the voices were coming from.

"Let's go," I whispered, and we burst across the room.

"Ella will be safe with me," Jeb said. I was rather inclined to disagree out of habit, but she seemed like she trusted him, and she certainly couldn't fly. I squeezed her hand and followed my friends.

We piled out of the door in about two point four seconds, Fang, Gazzy, and Angel in the air in an instant. I glanced at Jeb, who pressed a piece of paper into my palm and disappeared around the corner of the building with Ella as I leapt into the air, flapping my huge wings hard.

I rose about a foot into the air and crumpled to the ground. "Max!" Fang called out from the air, spinning to stare at me. What had just happened? I staggered to my feet, taking a step backward and then surging into the air again, my wings raking the ground as the air caught them…

I flapped shakily, tipping to the side and falling of my current, collapsing in a heap on the ground that had seconds before been five feet below me.

I didn't remember how to fly.

**A/N: Yes. I am aware that that ending is slightly evil. **


	31. Up and Down

**A/N: Yes, yes, I realize it's been 78291324875 years since I posted last. I apologize… please forgive me? But anyway… read, enjoy, and review! **

I heard the shot before I saw the man. From around the building came more shots, which I realized were bullets being shot at my flock. I looked up – four dots were quickly disappearing into the sky. Thank God. One was still above me, hovering twenty feet in the air.

Fang.

Of course.

"Fang! Go!" I yelled, and he glanced up and then back at me, shaking his head jerkily. That was when the men came pouring around the corner, guns in hand. Shots sprayed dust up all around me, and I scrambled to my feet, realizing that even if I couldn't fly, I could still run.

I turned, trying to find a place to hide, just as Fang landed hard beside me. We turned in unison as the shouts got louder. The men had been joined by twenty or so more. We both saw the small black object at the same time – it looked suspiciously like the sort of thing Iggy would have stashed in his shoe.

I threw myself around the corner of the building, feeling Fang's arms shield me protectively as whatever it was exploded where we'd been standing a second before. I shoved his arms off, crouched behind the wall. "I'm alive again, remember? Not dead anymore!" I yelled over the noise.

"I'm trying to keep you that way. I kind of like you more this way, you know?" he hissed back as a deathly silence settled around us, and I rolled my eyes.

"Well cool it, 'cause dying isn't fun, trust me," I muttered, looking up at him. There was the obvious question of 'what are we doing on the ground?' in his eyes, but he didn't ask. He just looked around and then sighed. "What?" I asked as another explosion set a bush on fire. He considered me for a split second and then shrugged. "What?" Just then a third explosion bathed us in dust and sand. Fang shook his head violently, shaking the sand from his long shaggy hair, and then swept me up in his arms and launched into the air. He was above the building in a second and into the sky in ten, dodging the bullets that whizzed past. One slammed into his backpack and shoved us sideways in the air.

"Put me down!" I demanded. "Fang! Put me down!" He ignored me, flapping harder, his fingers tightening around me. Some people might think being carried is romantic, but I found it really annoying. Also, it was weird to be so high up in the air and not flapping. I struggled for a while, but he was obviously not going to relent, so finally I gave up.

"You're never, ever, ever carrying me again," I seethed, feeling ridiculous. He just glanced down at me and then back up at the sky, unaffected by my demands.

"You obviously can't fly, and the alternative was letting you die down there," he pointed out. I ignored his logic because that made it easier to stay mad at him. We reached the rest of the flock a few minutes later. I felt their stares and tried very, very hard to ignore them.

"Max?" Gazzy asked slowly, sounding completely confused.

"What is it?" Iggy asked, but no one answered. "Is she okay?" he asked a moment later.

"I'm fine," I told him through gritted teeth. "Physically," I added. Not so sure about the mental scarring. "Let's get to a forest or something and land."

And just like that, we were once again running for our lives.

Or, you know, _flying_.

Most of us, anyway.

We landed an hour later – who knew the forest was so freaking far away from the desert? Fang set me down and I walked away without looking at him, pulling the piece of paper out of my pocket to read. He followed me as I leaned against a tree, scanning the words scrawled on the paper.

DUSK. SAME BUILDING.

"You think he could have told us that _before_ we flew an hour away?" Fang muttered, running his fingers through his hair in annoyance. It made his hair stand up funny, and I grinned at him. "What?" he asked, still annoyed at the prospect of returning to the School.

"Nothing," I said, feeling the grin slide off my face. "But, uh, how are we going to get there?"

"How are _you_ going to get there, you mean. The rest of us, see, we can fly," he replied maddeningly. I felt like screaming.

"Yeah, so can I," I retorted. He raised his eyebrows.

"Didn't seem like it back there," he replied. The rest of the flock was gathering around us now.

"Max can't fly?" Nudge asked.

"Of course I can," I said briskly. Fang just watched quietly, his skeptical look more annoying than anything he could have said. "Fine. Want to see?" I stepped back a little and unfurled my wings, letting them stretch a second before slowly flapping them. Beating them harder, I jumped into the air in front of me.

And landed on my butt directly in front of the rest of my flock, whose expressions ranged from confused to scared to, in Fang's case, amused. Looking away, I stood up and brushed the dirt off my pants.

"So maybe I forgot how to fly while I was dead," I admitted quickly.


	32. Flying, Not Flying, and Paint

**A/N: Loooong chapter… read, enjoy, review, et cetera. **

MAX

"It's going to be dusk in a little over an hour," Nudge pointed out a little while later. I was sitting on the ground away from the rest of the flock, trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do.

"I know," I replied tersely.

"Maybe I could go meet Jeb?" she suggested. I glanced over at her. "You know, and take Fang with me. And Angel, and maybe Gazzy and Iggy?" I sighed and scraped the dirt at my feet with a finger. How incredibly inconvenient this was. Not to mention embarrassing.

"We can't split up," I insisted, although that's exactly what we had to do.

"Then what are we going to do?" she pressed. I had no idea.

"Go get the others ready to fly," I ordered, and she stood up and backed away to get Iggy, who was asleep, and Angel and Gazzy, who were talking at the top of a very tall tree. Fang sidled over, and I sighed, standing up. "Fang... you're going to have to take them to meet Jeb. Hear what he has to say and get your butts back here without agreeing to anything." Fang looked at me for a long moment.

"I'll stay," he said finally, his voice quiet.

"Um, no, you'll go to Jeb," I corrected him, but he shook his head.

"You need someone here. What if something happens?" Something that would require me to fly away, he meant. I sighed.

"We're in the middle of nowhere. Nothing's going to happen, and you guys will just be gone for a couple of hours. You have to go talk to Jeb. I can't send them alone. I need you to do this, Fang." Again with the considering me silently. Finally he nodded briskly.

"Let Ig stay with you, then," he said.

"Fine," I agreed, just to get him off my back. He needed to leave now or he was going to be late.

"You guys ready?" I called, and everyone nodded, more or less assembled and ready. "Okay. Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy, you're going with Fang. Come back soon, don't trust Jeb any more than you have to, and watch out, okay?" They looked a bit perplexed.

"You're not coming?" Angel asked.

"I'm, uh, staying here. Dying really takes it out of you," I tried to joke. They all continued staring blankly.

"But I have to go," Iggy said finally. "Ella's with Jeb, and, uh…" he trailed off, turning a little red.

"You're staying here, Iggy," Fang said with such finality that even Iggy backed off. "Come on, guys," he continued, taking off. Gazzy and Nudge gave me one more odd look before following. Angel hesitated.

"Go on, sweetie. I'll be right here," I assured her. She nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I know," she said finally. "I just don't like leaving you anymore, you know? Last time I left you I came back and you were dead." She said it so matter-of-factly it made me cough.

"Not this time," I assured her. "Go on." She nodded and took off. I watched them go, my wings itching to fly with them.

I was going to need to learn how to fly _very_ soon.

FANG

It was strange, going on a mission without Max. I mean, we were just going to see what Jeb wanted – we weren't breaking and entering as usual. But still. Not being able to glance up ahead and see her was going to make this trip a long one.

"Why can't Max fly, Fang?" Nudge asked, flapping hard to catch up to me. I shrugged. "But she'll be able to soon, right? I mean, we can't just… walk everywhere," she pointed out. I shrugged again. She had a point.

MAX

I watched the rest of my flock go with a lump in my throat. Fang would watch out for them, I knew, but it wasn't like I was used to letting them go without me.

"So, you can't fly?" Iggy asked. I shook my head, not wanting to talk, and then felt like slapping myself on the forehead.

"Guess not," I muttered, sitting down and leaning against a tree. Iggy sat across from me, stretching out on a rock and letting his wings extend behind him. He pushed himself up on his elbows.

"So. What's up with you and Fang?" he asked after a moment. I choked.

"What?"

"Ever since you, uh, died… and came back and everything… he, like, hasn't left your side. At all. And when you woke up, sure, you hugged all of us, but you and Fang were like –"

"Nothing, Iggy," I cut him off quickly. He raised an eyebrow.

"Sure," he said soothingly, making my blood boil.

"Really!" I protested. He laughed and help up his hands.

"I said okay!" he reminded me, but he still looked smug.

"So, what was that about needing to see Ella?" I asked, knowing that would shut him up.

It did. Quite nicely, in fact.

For a minute.

Then, "So, how are you going to remember how to fly again?" he asked. God, he was as bad as Nudge sometimes.

"I'm shrugging," I muttered, shrugging and moving forward so I could lay down and look at the sky.

"You could have Fang teach you. That way he could catch you when you fell," Iggy suggested brightly. Suppressing a shriek, I picked up some bark and threw it at him. It bounced off his leg. "Shutting up now," he announced, and blessed silence surrounded us and the forest.

FANG

Our flight to the School was relatively uneventful, but we knew they had cameras on the skies above all the buildings, so we landed half a mile out and walked in. It was dark, so we didn't have to fear being seen – we were very good at blending into the shadows and darkness of the night by now. Also, thanks to Jeb, we now knew that there weren't any Invisirasers guarding the buildings.

We wove between the buildings, me in front and Nudge in the back. I kept Angel right behind me, listening around us for nearby thoughts. After a few minutes she tugged on the back of my t-shirt. I turned and she pointed.

"Jeb?" I breathed, and she nodded. Sighing with relief, I snuck around the corner to find Jeb standing there. He looked very dusty and tired, but that's life.

"Fang. Where's Max?" I didn't answer, and he sighed. "You're going to have to trust me, Fang," he told me. "Max obviously trusts me, or she wouldn't have sent you to me." I sighed.

"Can't fly," I muttered. Jeb didn't look horrified, so I guessed he already knew that would be a possible side effect of waking from the dead.

"I thought that might happen. Her mind just hasn't fallen into place completely. She'll need a few lessons and then she'll remember again," he told me. I didn't respond, and he looked up at me. I realized he was waiting for me to respond.

Cool. I didn't plan on it. I'd stand here and listen, but I wasn't making small talk. He cleared his throat and continued. "You guys need to hide for a while. Lay low in a cave or something. The School is trying a new type of technology that hooks into all public security cameras, and some private cameras, too, so you can't be seen in airports, supermarkets, gas stations, post offices…"

Yeah, because we were _always_ hanging in the local post office.

"I'm trying to get more information on the Invisirasers. As long as you stay in hiding you should be fine, but just in case, make sure everyone carries spray paint with them," he warned. I was annoyed at his demand, and his fatherly advice, but the truth was, it was a good idea. Incredibly annoyed I hadn't thought of it myself, I nodded vaguely, not meeting his eyes, shoving my hands farther into my pockets.

"Can't go into stores. Can't buy paint," I pointed out a moment later.

"I thought of that." Of course he did. "Here," he continued, pulling six large cans of spray paint out of a bag he had on his back. I shoved two in my pockets and handed the rest to Angel, who was hanging on my arm.

"Ooh, can I have the purple?" she begged, and I shrugged, wishing Jeb hadn't bought different colors. The inevitable fight that would ensue over colors wouldn't be pleasant. It wasn't as if the Flock got lots of different colored items all the time. I glanced at Jeb, but he seemed more or less done playing Santa.

"See you," I muttered, feeling like that was more words than I should have used on him anyway, but he frowned and shot a hand out to grab my elbow. I pulled it away but glanced back at him.

"Fang. Be careful. And tell Max that, too. These are dangerous times. Itex may be destroyed, but The School is getting stronger." He actually sounded sincere. And I was good at picking out lies, too.

"Whatever," I muttered. "Thanks for the paint." Turning from the man who I'd once looked up to so much, I spread my wings. "Let's go, guys," I said to Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel, who'd been standing close together behind me the entire time. Angel smiled sweetly at Jeb before sticking her tongue out at him and taking off, but Nudge didn't spare him a glance. Gazzy looked like he was going to just fly off, too, but at the last second he shoved his bare toes – where the hell were his shoes? – into the dirt and spun to face Jeb, who was still standing hunched in the shadows of The School.

"I wanted to be you when I grew up," he said to Jeb, his voice accusatory. Jeb's eyes widened and softened, and he stepped forward into the beam of light a nearby floodlight was leaking out onto the courtyard. "I wanted to be big and strong and good and save kids from cages," Gazzy continued. Not much of a job market there, Gaz, I felt like saying. "But now…" Gazzy trailed off, looking out over the dark buildings that held memories no nine-year-old should posses. He turned back to Jeb, and his eyes were filled with such disgust even I was impressed. "I still want to be big and strong and good, but now I want to do it so I can be better than you." He flapped his wings hard, jumping and beginning to make a wide ark that would carry him far away from The School. "You think you're being all good 'cause you're helping us now, but you're not fooling us!" he yelled just before he disappeared behind a cloud.

I glanced one last time at Jeb. He looked kind of… broken.

Him and me both.


End file.
